The Wiltshire Council Archaeology Service once again made a successful contribution to the recent national Festival of British Archaeology fortnight. The team led two guided walks and talks, this time in the south and east of the county.

At the first, in Mere, over half of the 100 participants from the two walks joined Clare King and David Vaughan, Assistant County Archaeologists, at Mere Castle and Whitesheet Down. Suggested by our friends in Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the event attracted a large contingent from readers of the AONB Newsletter, The Hart, while others had travelled from as far away as London and Dorset, indicating the continued popularity of these walks and a rapacious interest in archaeology and the historic environment.

Clare’s introduction to the history of this once-imposing edifice was well-received, prompting the usual widespread and interesting array of questions from the assembled group. The walk had started with a steep climb up the sides of Long Hill, a natural rise that was remodelled at its eastern end during the Middle Ages to form the enclosure castle. The earthworks exploited by these early castle-builders remain today as a striking presence in the local landscape and were repeatedly admired by the group as they completed the second part of their walk.

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Over 100 people attended two key events organised by the Archaeology Service as part of the annual Festival of British Archaeology fortnight.

Barbury Castle Iron Age hillfort
The first, on 31^st July, centred on Barbury Castle Iron Age hillfort near Wroughton, followed by a guided 5km walk along the historic Ridgeway to the white horse hill figure on Hackpen Hill.


Hackpen Hill.

The chalk and downland landscape in this part of Wiltshire boasts a rich mix of prehistoric and medieval archaeology and provided plenty of opportunity for questions and discussion from the 30-strong group, as well as endless photo opportunities. Informative and enjoyable, this walk through time, from the Neolithic to Queen Victoria, showed how nature and heritage combine to give Wiltshire its very special environment.


Littlecote Roman villa

The following day, some 70 people joined a guided tour of Littlecote Roman villa near Hungerford. A guided talk focussed on the famous “Orpheus” mosaic, influenced by the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as fine examples of Roman villa architecture, resulting in plenty of “oohs” and “aahs” at this very photogenic private site. The group included a broad range of ages and backgrounds, united by their appreciation of the very special archaeological features on display, all brought to life through this event. The site was fully excavated between 1978-1991, with publication of the results due out soon. To find out more, please 'read more'...

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The Festival of British Archaeology is a nationwide, annual event that aims to promote archaeology. It has been running for twenty years, and has evolved from a single day to two whole weeks. As in previous years the Wiltshire Archaeology Service are actively involved and this year we will be doing not one but two exciting days out. Both events are free!

Aerial view of Barbury Castle

The first event is an exciting guided walk around Barbury Castle followed by a walk down the Ridgeway (approximately 2.6 km) to see some of the amazing prehistoric features of the Marlborough Downs. Barbury Castle is an impressive Iron Age Hillfort with enormous ramparts that overlooks Wroughton, Swindon and the surrounding countryside. David Vaughan, Assistant County Archaeologist will be leading this walk at 2pm on Saturday 31^st July. To book your place or to find out more information see the contact details below via 'read more'.

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The third season of excavation at the Roman bath house building at Truckle Hill has just been completed.  These past two weeks have revealed a lot of surprises about what we now know were a complex of buildings in this small valley bottom location close to Castle Combe.

Pieces of Painted Wall Plaster

The aim of this season was mainly to reveal more detail about the pre-bath house building which surprisingly came to light at the end of last season. This building had some intact painted wall plaster and a column base (see earlier blog from February 2009 for photo). More of this building was revealed this season, including part of a further  partial panel of intact painted wall plaster and what could be a monumental entrance feature leading into the building from the direction of the Roman Villa which is located 100m metres away. The jury is still out about the function of this earliest building as there is no evidence to suggest is was a bath house, but could possibly have been a building for feasting and dining. The biggest surprise this season was the discovery of yet another earlier building under the bath house, meaning there were at least three buildings constructed on site, one on top of the other. The second building was larger than the first. Structural evidence points to this being a bath house with a suite of rooms, some with painted wall plaster and tessellated pavements. A further discovery was a classic late Roman t-shaped corn dryer which had been inserted into the final bath house rooms after it went out of use. 'Read more' to find out about the dating of the buildings and the additional focus of the project….


Stone Roof Tiles from the Bath House

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