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12th August - Setting Up

...and it was all going so well! Our first full day on site, Saturday 12th, started off with enthusiasm and excitement. We wanted to get as much equipment set as possible, the tents and marquees especially, and get started on the evaluation trench to locate any Roman remains. The trench was no problem - we located it using the GPR results and laid out a 3 by 3 metre square trench. Deturfing and getting down the first spit - remember, all of this had to be done by hand - was easy. Easy, that is, until the wind and the rain started. From about 3pm the heavens opened and a cold north wind whipped across the field. We thought the progress the evaluation trench at our tents, snug against the hedge on the north side of the field, would be safe and secure - how wrong we were. We nearly lost one of our large site tents and our personal kit nearly got swept away. We later heard that events around us, especially on the north coast, had been severely disrupted by the weather. 51mm of rain fell in 36 hours!!

13th August

So, Sunday was mopping up time and kit moving - as well as trying to get some progress on the evaluation trench. Our 'resident' team would be arriving in the evening and, tomorrow, our 'day' team would add to our numbers. We had lost a lot of time and wanted to make sure that we knew exactly where to locate the main trench and what our depth would be to reach the mosaic and Roman walls. Fortunately we were successful - and, as if on cue, around 2pm we revealed the first portion of the mosaic. It consisted of a group of the square border motifs, two red squares and one white, with the blue band next to it, a white band and part of the guilloche. All very good - but we did notice that` there was an additional white band, of about eight rows of tesserae, between the red and white squares and the likely location of the south wall of the room. Worryingly, though, we found quite a few displaced tesserae from the main decorated mosaic.

14th August


...and our team is now complete. Our 'residents' all arrived safely last night and our 'day-squad' all arrived this morning in good time. Introductions and an induction session over, they started on the main trench - a modest 9 by 4 m, aligned east west, to locate the main area of mosaic and part of the corridor to the west. We are having a bit of a problem with some 20th century debris that is scattered over the site - barbed wire, fencing, some concrete, but nothing that is holding us up. It is proving wise not to use a machine because the soil is extremely soft and some of the flints, which the farmers have been ploughing up over the decades and pitching onto the grassy knoll that covers the mosaic, are large and would have dragged through his soft stuff. By the end of the day, the trench is deturfed and we are down the first spit.

15th August

                                          
 

                        

I decided to enlarge the trench slightly westwards to take in the full extent of the western corridor. I am concerned that the 1920s excavators might have 'chased' the walls and disturbed the strat between the floors and the walls. Putting the trench line too snug against the possible wall locations might put us over their 'wall-chasing' trenches. Much better to try to find more in situ archaeology and see if their activities had disturbed it. The western extension, only a two metre increase, is already proving to be interesting. The finds are very different to what we have been finding over the mosaic. Over the latter we have been finding lots of redeposited Roman material as well as modern debris. The eastern extension, which is outside the area that was protected by the 1920s hut, must be Atkinson's backfill. The fact` that we have been coming across a few finds is promising. More about them tomorrow.

We have been having a number of local visitors whose tales about the site have already been very illuminating. They remembered when, as children in the 50s and 60s, they used to play in the fields around abouts, and of course used to play around the building, or hut, that once covered the mosaic. We have a fairly good description of it in the 50s - a four-poster structure, with beams around a foot square, supporting a heavy thatched roof (very blackened and scruffy in the 50s). The hut didn't have any side panels but was open on all four sides. Wire had been fixed in the 50s between the uprights to keep out the kids - of course, they now tell us, this didn't work at all!!. There were stories of the place being haunted - but these were probably just the normal local scare stories to keep the kids away. Again, they only added to the excitement of their games. They couldn't see anything back then - the hut was still there, but in a very bad state, and a rabbit warren had colonised the soft soil over the mosaic. The recall their parents, who also played around the hut, being able to see the mosaic - and keeping a few souvenirs!!!

16th August


As we continue down in our main trench, we are coming across more evidence of how the mosaic was ‘displayed’ following its discovery in 1922/23. It appears that a concrete skirt was laid, sloping down from the ground surface to the mosaic like a glacis, We are told that the building erected over it was a solid four-poster structure with a heavy thatch rook. Open at the sides, it would have given some protection from the elements. It is doubtful, though, that individual tesserae would have remained well-bedded into their underlying grout. Later, in the 50s, wire netting was fitted between these posts. Anti-rabbit wire, which we have found, was put in around the base – not that this worked because the villagers who played in these fields as kids remember that the inside of the hut, once the mosaic had been covered over, was full of rabbits! 

More of the mosaic is appearing along the south side of the room – a continuation of the red and white square motif. Tomorrow we have a day of meetings with representatives from EH, NLA as well as visits from the landowner, Mr Birkbeck and the farmer, Mr Thaxton.

17th August

Between showers, again, we were able to achieve a great deal. The modern rubble and spoil from the 60s and 70s backfill is now clear and all post-Roman fills are now likely to be backfill of Atkinson’s trenches. We intend to treat these a little more cautiously because there is the strong likelihood of some finds, missed in 1923, being in his backfill. 

The meetings with EH and NLA went very well and a programme of work for the second week is now agreed. Our current trench is looking at an area that has never been ploughed since 1923, though it has suffered from exposure, rabbits and souvenir hunting, so we will be looking at one of the rooms of the south building that appears in the GPR survey to be just in the lower level of the plough soil. We will start this next week.

18th August

The last day of our first week team – we will be losing a quarter of the squad today.  The west wall of Room L (which has the mosaic) is appearing at quite a high level, probably the first course above original ground level. The other walls, though, are appearing just as robber trenches which we will empty out over the weekend.

It was good to discover the plain tessellated floor in the west corridor today – and in a very good condition. This gives a good contrast to the main mosaic itself and helps to define the location of the walls on the west side of Room L.
 

So the first week is officially over – thanks to everyone but especially to Mark, Virginia, Wendy and Kirsty who leave us this evening.

19th August

It looks as if it is going to be a good day – archaeology- and weatherwise. With our reduced squad, we will concentrate on cleaning the mosaic and its plaster base as well as empty the robber trenches of Atkinson’s backfill. Another plain tessellated floor has appeared – on the south side of Room L corresponding to the narrow corridor/stairwell room M. Only a few rows of tesserae are visible alongside the edge of the trench. I am please about this – we have located room M without having to excavate too much of it.

GPR and resistivity surveys continued today, with Tim Dennis from Essex University coming up for the weekend to help us with the former. He will be concentrating on the area to the immediate south east of the south building – in an area where Michael and others have speculated that, according to surface finds, there might be a detached bathhouse.

20th August

At last - the forecast looks good and, as it turned out, only one short shower interrupted the day.

We were able to focus upon cleaning the area of the mosaic as well as identify the precise lines of the walls by the limits of floor surfaces. We have now located three rooms; the mosaic room (room L), the west corridor (room R) and the narrow southern corridor/stairwell (room M). Both R and M have plain tessellated floors so delimiting their extents was very easy - just stop when the tesseare stopped.

Room R, though, is proving to be rather interesting and seems to be a bit more complicated than Atkinson recorded. Our own GPR survey shows a possible annex or apse (we are not sure yet if it is square ended or round) and we assumed that is was an earlier feature below the tessellated floor of Room R. however, we have found that Atkinson actually excavated the south wall of this annex - and yet he did not record it on his plan. A photograph of the western corridor that he publishes shows quite clearly this and other robber trenches. Obviously there is more detail in his original records, which may be further confirmation that his 1928 report was intended to be simply an interim. We hope that this was the case!

Resistivity and GPR surveys have continued - and the GPR results for yesterday are, again, spectacular. We surveyed the area to the south-east of the south building, in an area where field walking finds suggest that here might be a detached bathhouse. The radar has revealed an extensive rectangular building with small annexes and subdivisions of large rooms and also, dare we wish it - a room with a possible apsidal end. A caldarium? We will post more information about this later in the week once Tim has processed more of the scans.

21st August

Forecast is for rain - which joins us with abundance around 11am and, at the time of writing (1pm) shows no signs of easy off. We hear on the radio that 25mm has fallen on Lincolnshire this morning and - our rain has come from that direction. Luckily, David Neal, one of the UK's leading mosaic specialists, was able to arrive early and was able to get all of his work done on the bits of mosaic that still survive here. In brief, now that he has seen some of it in real life, he believes that it is likely to be late second century, of fairly good quality with no obvious signs of repair. He will return later in the week to record anything we find in our trench extensions and also to make his own photographic record.

So we wait and see if this rain leaves us so that we can continue. One good things though, the ground drains easily and we have a new stock of biscuits!!!

 

 

By about 3pm the weather improved, allowing us to get back to site. There is no doubt that Atkinson did discover the annex to Room L but did not record it on his plan. If only we had his primary record I am sure that all would make sense. Tomorrow we will continue examining this annex, as well as extend the main trench further eastwards. I want to see the east wall of the building, said by Atkinson to be well preserved, and also to open up a second trench to examine the north-east room of the south building. This trench is one, which EH asked us to open. It was proposed in our original PD but we held back on doing it because of the loss of time due to the bad weather. This second trench will, we hope, reveal information about the Roman remains beneath the ploughsoil.

22nd August

…and a good start on a fresh August morning. Nice and dry, for once. We really have been very unlucky with such appalling weather over the last ten days. Not surprisingly, we have reined in some of our wider objectives but we will still gather a great deal of information.

The geophysics continues and we have just received word that the GPR results are even more interesting than we first thought. There are further remains to the east of Atkinson’s villa, in addition to the detail about the ‘bathhouse’ – although the configuration at present may not be enough to describe it as a formal, courtyard style villa there is no doubt that the open area between these two ranges must have served as a yard to the buildings ranged around it. What remains even further to the east now takes on a new significance.

We have extended trench one by 3m, and already have located more of the mosaic – part of the eight-strand guilloche and the red and white dentilled design. By the end of the day, trench two is open and already down to the Roman stuff. Plough depth was around 250mm and there is evidence of some damage from earlier, envelope ploughing regimes. This was phased out with the introduction in the 70s on this estate of reversible ploughs. However, this is no evidence whatsoever for the mosaic floor that was found here – not even the mortar base of the mosaic. I suspect that the earlier ploughing regime, back in the 30s and 40s, may have removed this. And yet there is no sign of any rubble in the plough soil. Could eight decades of ploughing have dispersed it?

Visits from journalists from the East Daily Press and Michael live on BBC Radio Norfolk launch our press campaign.

23rd August

A good write up in the EDP (click here to view on-line) and expected visits from camera crews (click here to view on-line) today mean that our small press campaign has had a good effect. We have many locals visiting to let us know their memories about this site – including one very healthy 82-year-old who remembered, as a teenager, talking to some ‘old chaps’ who had been employed by Atkinson. They told him tales about the site – many of which he, sadly, can no longer remember – among which was one about how, at the end of the dig, they put into crates and onto carts all of the ‘interesting stuff’ that went down the lane to East Winch station and off to a ‘University somewhere’. Cambridge (the closest) or Manchester (Atkinson’s place of work)? If anyone from these two Universities who might be reading this has any knowledge of their department’s collections (especially Manchester) please, please contact us. We haven’t pursued the Manchester angle yet – could it be that easy?

We continue to work on both trenches – the eastern corridor of the north building has been revealed along with more anti-rabbit wire, thus giving us the east side of the enclosed 20^th century area. The eastern wall of Room L survives to a couple of courses above the foundation – while all around it other walls have been robbed. Perhaps a broad threshold here meant that there were no standing ruins to be seen at the time of the robbing. We have also examined the area to the north of the mosaic – which Atkinson explored with a deep trench to see what was under the mosaic itself. Emptying his backfill has proved to be very revealing – a thick, c.40cm layer of loam and sand, above another dump of clay and flint. All of this seals what looks like some natural sands and silts. Whatever, there is no sign of any complex pre-mosaic strat – just these, what seem to be, make-up dumps.

Trench two has revealed some interesting details. Within the walls there appears to be two distinct layers separated diagonally across the room. One is a clay mixed with crushed chalk and other light debris, the other a dark grey loam but also containing quite a lot of material. These look seriously like in situ strat – and therefore from beneath the floor that was once in this room. These seem to pre-date the south building – and therefore would be contemporary with the north range.

24th August - click here for latest Resistivity survey results

Very wet start – and nothing really getting off the ground until around 1pm. We set up a lot of finds washing facilities – and we made good progress there. Much of the morning was spent doing site management and tidying type things so we have, at least, got the campsite and mess back in good shape.

click here for latest Ground Radar survey results

We were able to continue progress in the afternoon on trench one. The east wall is now clean, thanks to two of our younger team members Eloise (11) and James (13) and we have located, for the record, the east wall of the east corridor. The main robber trenches are now clear of Atkinson’s backfill. These have produce quiet a few finds – more about these another day.

In trench two we have decided to remove some of the strat to see if we can gather any additional dating evidence – TPQ for the south building and, presumably, material contemporary with the life of the north range.

The day ends with the arrival of Terry from Sedgeford and a marquee for our Bank Holiday open day (Thanks SHARP!).

25th August

Today really needs to be our last day in trench one. We have exposed Roman stratigraphy across the entire site, plus some natural strat in the bottom of Atkinson’s deep sondage alongside the mosaic, and so we must start the big clean for photography, drawing and, of course, public display on Monday. As a last though, it would be nice to get the east wall of the eastern corridor – so that we can get a full cross section through the entire complex, at least in plan. This will only require the removal of a couple of square metres of 30cm thick ploughsoil – a simple task for Scott!

The strat in Trench 2 is beginning to look interesting – and complex. I am not sure that we are going to get far there – I had hoped for simple dumps making up the, now, lost floor but that was not to be – it never is, is it? We seem to have some evidence for light industrial work – not sure which one, though. Also, some bones have appeared - small and possibly articulated human infant. We began examining them after lunch.

The afternoon was simply crazy. We have had many visitors pop by during each day – a pair or singly at a time. From about 2pm today, though, things just went mad. All week we have had deluges of rain – now it was visitors. We had an official visit from the NLA as well as a representative from a DEFRA advisory group on site just as we were engulfed by about fifteen visitors in three groups all wanting to see what was going on – and all of them because they couldn’t make it to the open day on Monday. What on earth will the weekend be like. At the same time we had a gentle, local chap with his dowsing stick discovering grand medieval architecture in every corner of our field while we were desperately trying to shield the excavation of the infant and not draw attention to it. Me? I felt like packing it all in and going down the pub. It was only 2.30, though, so I decided to stay on.

And just as quickly chaos descended on us, so it lifted and we spent a good afternoon tidying up trench one, which looked an absolute dream by the end of the day, and working on the features in trench 2.

26th August

Fortunately a fairly straightforward day, without too many people dropping in for a visit – although our landowner’s mother did manage a short visit. She remembered it all very well – after all, it was her husband who arranged the construction of the building. We have a lot of text, captions and other things to prepare for the Open Day so we will be scattered over quite a few tasks.

The infant burial in trench two is excavated and recorded thoroughly and efficiently – and lifted and labelled carefully. We will get this off site before the end of the day.

One thing we have decided to do, and which was started yesterday, is to lay out on the surface of the field the exact plan of the buildings as excavated by Charlton and Atkinson in 22-23, as well as adding some of our new results from geophysics. I am sure that this is going to help to make clear in the visitor’s mind the size and scale of a Roman building such as this (this was another task that was going on during yesterday afternoon’s bedlam.

27th August

Field archaeology has to take a back seat today – and public outreach work must come to the fore. We need to be ready for 6pm because we have a host of invitees coming this evening to our site party. The main priority is to make sure that sign-posting around the site is in place, car-parking facilities are sorted out and space is available for the bar (supplied by The Stag of West Acre) and Hogs Roast (Druids). With many comings and goings to get stuff printed, panels prepared, tables in place it will come as no surprise to discover that we have a hardware failure in one of the key printers. It was bound to happen – but it is a case of ‘serenely accepting the things you cannot change’  (through gritted teeth, though) and moving on.

During the afternoon I had a chance to pick up the model of the villa. This came originally from, I believe, Kings Lynn museum. It is not an accessioned item, merely a prop, but it had stalled in its journey between Lynn and Gressinghall via a local exhibition in Gayton Thorpe. Mr Cross, a local farmer and stalwart of the Gayton Thorpe community, had been caring for it and let us know that he had it if we wanted it. Of course we did – we had been looking for it for a while now. It really is a very good depiction of the model, well-made and still in very good condition. I suspect that it must come form the early seventies – it will make a good comparison alongside Sue White’s more up-to-date reconstruction.

At six the first of the guests arrive and it is pleasant to see them moving around the site in the order that we hoped – moving from one panel to the next, learning about the site in bite-sized chunks as they go. At 6.30 I have quite a large group with me who I take around the site – and I am very pleased, especially for the team who have done all the hard work, after all, to hear glowing praise and comments from many of them when they see the results of the two week’s work.

The full-scale layout looks simply spectacular and has attracted many comments from our guests. If only we could try and get some aerial photographs of it then we could make further use of it it – note to self ‘ find a birdman or woman as soon as possible’!

28th August - click here for further images of the open day

Two thousand, five hundred visitors. Let me repeat that - two thousand, five hundred. That was our audience today. Absolutely brilliant. All our team did an absolutely excellent job and I cannot thank them all enough for their dedication and enthusiasm. It was such an eventful day, it could take a lot of text to do it justice, but I will try and keep it brief.

As always with these things, not everything was in place when the doors opened but there was so much for the visitor to see – finds displays, geophysics results, bookstall, Roman dress, repro Roman pottery, Portable Antiquities Scheme, tesserae washing, Roman re-enactors (Thanks Time Tarts), the site itself and a wonderful field to stroll around. To top it all, we had excellent weather for most of the day – a bit breezy, but nothing to complain about.

What was a joy was discovering that so many of the local community had come out volunteering their anecdotes and stories about this site – we had one couple who came all the way from Doncaster to visit. They had seen the site on the BBC Radio Norfolk website (another indication of our successful press exercise) and the memories that the lady of the family had were marvellous. She played in the hut as a child during the 30s and then, as a teenager, she helped out in the fields during the war. Apparently the girls would have their lunch in the hut – and the lucky ones would get to sit on the mosaic rather than on the dirtier parts of the floor. We also had one visitor who remembered sliding down the concrete ramp that we found – of course, he said, it looked so much bigger when you were a ten-year-old. I could see his two thirty-year old sons looking at their seventy-year-old dad with amazement!

Mr Birkbeck, our landowner who has been out many a time and helped us enormously both in the run up to the excavation as well as over the last two weeks, seems to have mobilised his entire family. His mother came along on Saturday, his sister, daughter and grandchildren the day before that, his brother-in law earlier in the week and today he came a few times with various younger members of his family.

The day ended with dramatic weather again – almost on the dot at 5pm the heavens opened once again and massive hailstone showers swept across the site, making the last of our visitors run for shelter and exits.

All-in-all, an excellent day and, once again, thanks to everyone on the team – you all know who you are - for making it all such an excellent success. Also thanks to the Megan, Sue, the Norfolk PAS (who came at very short notice – thanks ever so much), the Time Tarts , the burger van (good stuff) and the guy who did the drinks (I never did catch his name). And those who feel they have been left out – well, I am leaving you for the end. A big thank you to you too!!!

click here for further images of the open day

29th August

We said goodbye to all of the team last night after the open day – and now begins the clear up and final recording. Of course, all of this should go nice and smoothly – as if! The day was punctuated by many visitors popping in because they couldn’t make it yesterday – or because their neighbours told them how good it had all been. One couple came bearing pictures of the grandfather who happened to be George Billing, the ploughman who originally found the villa back in ’22. Apparently, the family story goes that he had been ploughing the field for many years and always noticed his plough skidding in the same area. Furthermore, crops there were always poor in the same area. One year, 1922, he decided to take a spade with him and when he skidded again he dug down to see the cause – and the rest is ‘Gayton Thorpe Roman Villa’!

But our most surprising visitor of all was Paul. He came yesterday and was impressed by the marking out of the villa in the field. You remember me wishing for a birdman? Well, Paul is that birdman. He comes from Gayton and is the proud owner of a 150cc 4-stroke paramotor - check out the images to see what I mean - and asked us if we wanted some overhead shots of the villa plan marked out in the field. Well, we just couldn’t believe it, and in half an hour he was in the air. Sadly, the weather was not good, again, so his first day’s results were poor because he was being buffeted about by the wind but he said that, as soon as the weather improved he would be back.

30th August

…and true to his word, Paul the Birdman returned and the results are just spectacular. Just look at the images – a fitting result to a very well executed exercise in archaeological outreach (or is it one of the largest art installations in Norfolk? – discuss).

The site kit is disappearing fast, with only a couple of us left on site each day and yours truly ‘guarding’ the site overnight, snug in his tent surrounded by nocturnal Norfolk wildlife. What a noisy bunch they are! There’s a deep dark wood nearby, real Gruffallo country, and the screeches and screams coming out of there each night reminds you that some animals just don’t know how to get on with one another.

     

      

                                              

31st August - Closing Down

Well, that’s it for another year. All the kit has gone and apart from some levels and a couple of elevations, all of the site recording is done. It has been a most successful project that has achieved all of its goals – not least galvanising the local interest once again in their own Roman Villa. Now we must make sure that we do not just walk away – we must keep in touch over the months to come with the community, without getting in the way or making too much of a fuss about it all. We will be preparing a teacher’s pack for local primaries as well as putting together a short lecture tour for later in the year or early 07. Above all, we must get the record in shape, sort out a publication and archiving programme and perhaps, let’s keep our fingers crossed, help to design the next campaign of fieldwork at Gayton Thorpe.