The annual excavation took place at Cocks Farm Abinger in June-July 2017 under the direction of Emma Corke. Volunteers excavated two trenches in an area of high agricultural activity on the hill adjacent to the known Roman villa site. This area was identified during a magnetometry survey looking at the environs of the villa which uncovered a Roman field system, a Roman lime kiln and a concentration of pits.
Another season of excavation will take place in Summer 2018 at Cocks Farm, Abinger. Work will continue in the area of Iron Age and Romano-British agricultural activity, and the dig will run for a month.The dates are as follows:
Saturday 16th - Wed 20th June
Saturday 23rd - Wed 27th June
Monday 2nd - Wed 4th July
Saturday 7th July - Wed 11th July
Saturday 14th July - Tues 17th July
Non-member Price: £15.00 Member Price: £15.00 Student Price: £15.00
Venue : Peace Memorial Hall, Woodfield Lane, Ashtead, KT21 2BE (see below for location map)
For the last of our Winter series of talks Harvey Sheldon will be presenting the second part of his presentation on Roman Southwark.
Harvey is an Honorary Research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London and has had extensive experience of excavations in London since the 1960s. Harvey Sheldon has been engaged in archaeological projects in Southwark and other parts of London since the 1960s. Together with Jon Cotton, Harvey directed the Hatch Furlong excavations in Ewell, 2006-9. He is currently Chairman of the Rose Theatre Trust.
Due to unforseen circumstances Martyn Allen, who was originally booked to talk to us on Roman rural settlement in Surrey, is unable to join us. We hope Martyn will be able to join us early in the next winter series of talks to kick-start the theme of rural settlement, which we hope to follow up with a seminar/workshop.
Meanwhile David Bird, RSG Chairman, has kindly agreed to talk on the Roman-Saxon transition; his recent thoughts on this subject have been the inspiration for the forthcoming regional conference:
Site Director, Emma Corke will be talking about the results of the 2017 excavations that took place on the hill adjacent to the scheduled villa site. A magnetometry survey carried out by RSG uncovered a number of features which have been explored over the last few seasons. Excavations have revealed a human presence on the hill from prehistory, with evidence for Neolithic and Bronze Age activity, Iron Age enclosure ditches and grain storage pits, superceded by Roman boundary ditches and agricultural activity.
This session will highlight some of the fieldwork that has taken place over the last year. It will also be a chance for members to enjoy Christmas refreshments.
Rose Hooker, of the Prehistoric Group will give an update on fieldwork that has taken place at a Late Iron Age/ Romano-British site at Charlwood.
Emma Corke and David Williams will be reporting on a Romano-British site near St. Martha's Church, Chilworth.
The directors of the Culver Archaeological Project, Rob Wallace and David Millum will be giving a presentation on Bridge Farm – revealing a Romano-British ‘defended’ settlement. The Culver Archaeological Project began in 2005 with the aim of identifying further archaeological sites within the landscape around Barcombe Villa. Recent seasons have seen the focus of activity at Bridge Farm, east of the River Ouse, where a large unrecorded Romano-British riverside settlement has been discovered.
The Roman Studies Annual General Meeting will be followed by a talk from David Rudling - Roman period settlement and land use in the Ouse Valley. David is well known to RSG. Until 2004 David worked for the UCL Field Archaeology Unit, being its Director from October 1991 to December 2003. In 2004 David joined the Centre for Continuing Education at the University of Sussex as a Lecturer in Archaeology.
Peter Guest, Senior Lecturer in Roman Archaeology at Cardiff University and Dig Director, will guide us around the Roman fortress of Caerleon in the morning (amphitheatre, Prysg Field Barracks, Fortress baths and the Roman Legionary museum) and Caerwent in the afternoon (forum-basilica, Pound Lane, Courtyard House, Temple and South Walls).
Charge: £10.00 per head
Max. no. 25
