Sunday, March 26, 2006

Open day.

Worthing Museum open day.

The day proved very successful, in that we recruited some six new members, the number of visitors over other days we have attended there was also up.
There is a varied selection of field work coming up over the Spring and Summer period, so look out for your emails and look at this site every week for updates.

WARMINGHURST
Work at Warminghurst is carrying on for another week, so far, the finds include some very fine late medieval pottery, but there is so far no indication as to its providence.
The Sussex County Times newspaper carried out an interview with myself, about the area and in particular the church and its history, they took some pictures of the excavation there.
This article should be published in a week or two.Visitors are welcome to visit the site, please contact me direct for directions. arch.research@ntlworld.com

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Time team











Time Team, some pics from Time Team.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Update 17th March.

March 15th, work on archiving Con Ainsworth 1960s excavation at Binsted, continues at Worthing museum, together with the archiving of maps stored there.
This is an on going process; that will continual for some time.
March 16th Thursday, members of the field unit were at Slindon, surveying took place on the enclosures at Rewell Wood, despite it being very cold with light snow, the task was completed.
Other members stayed at the base camp in the warm, and undertook finds processing, washing and marking.

Starting this Saturday 18th March, over a two-week period, two of our members who are undertakeing a part time MA course at Sussex University, will be excavating at Warminghurst, and at Goodwood. Sally Mountsteven at Warminghurst, and Pat Jones at Goodwood. Society members are providing assistance.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Time Team

Time Team.19th March.

The programe to watch, this Sunday at 5.55pm, Black Patch, and we are in it, well that is if you look very closely.
Pete Skilton will be there !!!.

Saturday, March 11, 2006


Slindon Village, open day.

The open day at Slindon village hall was very successful; at times, the hall was so full that it was difficult to move around.
The display of old photos of the village and its various trades and folk, was an excellent display, this is what a history day is all about, and it brought together archaeology and history, each complementing the other.
I would like to thank all those involved and a special thanks to Robin Upton, whose vast collection of photos covering the late nineteenth century up to the present day was very impressive.We must not forget the history club, and all the hard work put in by Philip Berry, and the financial help given by the Pudding Club. Last but not least, the National Trust for their contribution on the day, and their ongoing welfare of the village as a whole.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Clear the trees.

Tree stump, remover.

Just a thought, a way to remove trees in the way of excavations, just use a stick or two of dynamite, blow them up.
This was the method used, on an excavation back in the sixties, on a site just West of Arundel.
Seems a good idea to me! Saves a lot of digging.I can see Con Ainsworth there now, “all stand back light the fuse” “BANG”. OPPS!

Monday, March 06, 2006

updates.6th March.

Update 6th march
Patching.
Another successful weekend dig at Patching, the results are still inconclusive, much of the foundations of the house that stood on the site up until the late fifties has been uncovered, but signs of an early house on the site, have mostly evaded our investigations.
There maybe further work on the site at some date in the future.

Rewell Wood area .nr. Arundel.

Some surveying of this area has taken place over the past week, David Mc.Omish of English Heritage commented on the high standard of surveying undertaken by members of the field unit.
More work including some possible excavating will take place over the next few months.

Slindon 11th march.

Slindon village open day at Coronation Hall in Slindon Village.
This is an important day for the society; it is in conjunction with the Slindon History group, and the National Trust.
One of the oldest cottages in the village will be open to visitors before restoration, an opportunity to inspect one of these cottages.
Members of the village community will be bringing to the hall many old pictures and documents of the village and the estate, which will help us understand the working of the estate over the many hundred of years it has been there.
The open day will run from 10.30am until 4.30pm, all members are welcome to come along and see what is on view; there may well be some surprises.
On show will be many finds from the Upton collection, this alone will be of great interest.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

March Update.

Update March 2nd.

Over the weekend of the 4th-5th of March we will be working at Patching, this maybe the last time we visit the site, it is hoped that some of the questions will be answered, about the earlier building that preceded the building that was demolished in the early 60s.

Future work

This spring there will be a resitivity survey of the site of Sele Priory in Upper Beeding, this is a very interesting site with lots of history, see the Sele Priory web site. http://sele-priory.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk .
The aim of the survey will be to try to locate the watermill that once stood there, but disappeared some 500 years ago.
The work there is in conjunction with the Beeding history group.

Warminghurst

This month sees the start of some excavations within the area, this is for students of Sussex University who are on their M.A course, the Society is giving assistance where needed.Another interesting site has become known within the area, that of a moated site just north of the church, this is not Wolves farm site. There are details about the area at . http://warminghurst-history.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk