Big Dig
Boxford History Project had received £62,700 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for Revealing Boxford’s Ancient Heritage: a community archaeology project. This three-year project under professional archaeological guidance investigated three closely linked Roman sites near to Boxford village in West Berkshire. Previous work at these sites had suggested Roman occupation in an area where little was known about the extent of early settlement.
In the past, our community archaeology had successfully drawn together people from a wide age-range and all walks of life. This time our volunteers received specialist training, with lectures and fieldwork, giving them the skills to interpret their local heritage, and identify, record and protect these sites. Any finds were displayed at the newly built Heritage Centre in Boxford.
Boxford History Project (BHP) had been helped by the Berkshire Archaeology Research Group (BARG) and Cotswold Archaeology (CA) to undertake preliminary geophysical surveys of all three potential sites and identified varied building outlines, predominantly from the Roman period. Trial excavations had taken place on the largest of the sites two years before with some exciting finds. Thanks to National Lottery players, this grant enabled BHP in a formal partnership with BARG and CA to investigate the function, extent, status, chronology and relationship between the three sites, which seemed to represent a significant focus of high-status Roman occupation in the Lambourn Valley, with the Roman Road, Ermin Street nearby.
Photos on the blog are courtesy of Steve, Lindsey, Joy, Richard, Helen, Jill and Mike.
