Discoveries At Our New Site

Work began at our new site a fortnight ago and in that time we've made two fascinating (and fairly important) discoveries. Firstly, in the first half of the 19th century, there was a 'whim-gin' or 'horse-gin' coal mine at the site which we now know gave the name 'Hell Hole' to the field. 

The second discovery is rather older and equally important. Running alongside the south part of the mine area we've discovered a medieval cobbled surface which could be a track or something else. Whatever it turns out to be, from pottery finds we know it was in use in the 13th or 14th centuries! We have a couple of months to investigate further before the land returns to grazing use for the rest of the year. 

Part of the cobbled surface

 

 

South Staffordshire Whiteware dating to the 13th or 14th century. Just some of the 40+ potsherds discovered lying on top of the cobbled surface.

 

 

Marsh Park, Brierley Hill

We were asked by the Friends of the Park to try and uncover the remains of an observation tower from the Second World War. The tower was in place over the duration of the war to look out for enemy bombers but was demolished sometime shortly afterwards. Fortunately for us, the foundations are just under the surface so digging will not be too difficult. The park itself was commenced just after the First World War and celebrated its centenary in 2021 after the well known Marsh and Baxter family donated the land for the benefit of the local people. As some of you older members might know they were very well respected local butchers with a Royal warrant for supplying pork. The dig will take place every Sunday over the next few weeks. Anyone wishing to join us is most welcome.

Plough Inn Report

The extensive report covering our eight month long excavation of the former Plough Inn at Gailey is now available via our Reports page (number 83 near the end of the list). The document runs to almost 160 pages, including many photographs and illustrations.

Please note that the download is a zip archive which contains two files, the report and the site plan, both in PDF format.

School Test Pit Turns Up A Few Surprises

On 5th November we completed another educational visit, this time to Lanesfield Primary School and as always, the report will be published here in due course.

 

The 1900 OS map shows "old coal shafts" right under the school (!) and we fully expected to be digging through colliery spoil with few finds. In the event we were pleasantly surprised to find our test pit was full of interesting pottery and glass. 

 

Our test pit was in the south west part of the school playing field.

 

 After taking off the turf we found a neat layer of pebble and small cobbles, presumably spread to aid drainage for the school field. Below this we encountered over half a metre of what appears to be domestic ash, containing many finds from the late 18th and 19th centuries which was a real thrill for the children. It may be that the ash was local domestic waste, the contents of ash-pits from the town spread as night-soil or simply material brought in to level up the field. There was nothing to suggest it came from any industrial process.

At the bottom of the test pit we encountered a sloping layer of crumbly yellow clay which could be natural or perhaps spoil from the old coal workings.

 

 

 

The oldest ceramics found ('Cistercian ware' and 'Midlands purple') date all the way back to the 17th century but these were mixed in with later material and clearly out of context.

 

 

 

Lots of Room(s) at the Inn!

Our excavation at the former public house continues with new walls, floors and other features coming to light at every dig session. Despite the complexity of 300 years of extensions and alterations the history of the building is slowly becoming clearer.

It appears that there were originally two cottages at this location probably built in the late 1600s or early 1700s and mostly unaltered until the first half of the 19th century, when they were partially demolished and absorbed into the new inn and farm.

As the century progressed the inn expanded and new farm buildings were built around it. Later in the century some of the outbuildings were demolished as the inn and domestic side expanded. The early 20th century saw a little more building as the inn became solely a farmhouse until the 1960s, that decade of upheaval, when it was finally demolished.

Our work at the site continues and no doubt our theories will be modified as new discoveries are made and the history of this fascinating site becomes clearer still.

Here are a few of the myriad features we've uncovered to date.

Part of the cobbled farmyard:

The brick floor of a c1700 cottage overlaid by a later brick floor:

An inglenook fireplace which contained dateable pottery and clay pipes:

Floors of an early utility building overlaid by various concrete footings:

Festival Feedback

Here are some of the email and Facebook comments we've received following our Festival of Archaeology digs. It was hard work but we very much look forward to doing it all again next year!

More Discoveries at Oak House

Our three-day test pit dig at Oak House which ended today was a great success. Thirty three years ago a number of exploratory trenches were dug in the back garden of this grand old house and in one, the corner of a wall foundation was found. No further investigation was carried out at the time so our objective for this dig was to locate the structure and look for any dating evidence.

We know that the building was in existence in the 1840s since it's illustrated on the parish tithe map but it had been demolished by the late 1800s when the house was converted to a museum. After serving as 'pleasure gardens', the back lawn became a bowling green in the 20th century. The garden is now undergoing partial 're-wilding' with an emphasis on a sustainable wildlife habitat rather than formal mown lawns which have little environmental benefit.

While we didn't find anything in a sealed archaeological context to provide a date, we did locate our target and discovered a little more information. The foundations consist of large sandstone blocks on top of which lies a 10cm (4 inch) thick 'pad' of sandstone fragments, tile and mortar, which is wider than the blocks. Why this overhang exists isn't clear but we plan to carry out a more extensive excavation in the near future which may answer this question and provide a date.

A 3D photogrammetry model can be found here.

Another Successful Community Dig

Our Festival of Archaeology dig at Albrighton today attracted many visitors with lots of enthusiasm for learning more about their local history and many interesting questions.

The fine weather meant we had around two dozen people around the test pit at most times of day, with adults and children taking part and making discoveries for themselves.

Find of the day was an early Georgian halfpenny and the most interesting feature was a man-made yellow sandstone surface although what purpose it served we cannot say for certain.