The 15th Century Ancestor.
I almost spat my coffee across the train carriage when I saw my name in a 15th century manuscript.
Read More The 15th Century Ancestor.Tag: archaeology
J.T. Smith’s Ancient Topography of London
J.T. Smith published the Ancient Topography of London in 1815. Within it, I discovered a “sunken building”.
Read More J.T. Smith’s Ancient Topography of LondonFlower’s Barrow
This is a hillfort with a limited future”, says a reviewer talking about Flower’s Barrow, an Iron Age hillfort on the Dorset coast. Its life is limited. It seems appropriate to look at something falling into the sea this month, as last September I wrote about Dunwich, a medieval town that has slowly disappeared into […]
Read More Flower’s BarrowLondon Wall
What is London Wall? It is many things including a main road. It is archaeology, history and mythology. But above all, it is a boundary, that, although no longer here, is still ever present.
Read More London WallOld Winchester Hill
Iron Age hillforts have an impact on the landscape. In this blog I look at Old WInchester Hill in Hampshire.
Read More Old Winchester Hillthe last gravestone in dunwich
Jacob Foster’s gravestone is the last in Dunwich. To us, it represents so much more than just Jacob.
Read More the last gravestone in dunwichA Wall Will tell a 1000 Stories
Walls have so much to say. All the scars, knocks and scrapes tells of a wider story.
Read More A Wall Will tell a 1000 StoriesDark Earth
Dark Earth is an amorphous, bland and unremarkable archaeological deposit. but it represents so much more.
Read More Dark EarthWuffingas
Sutton Hoo is only the burial ground of King Raedwald. His Manor was a few miles north.
Read More WuffingasLondon is a Roman Creation
I don’t know exactly when the realisation dawned upon me, but for most of its history, London was really, just the “square mile”, the City of London. That City is a Roman creation, and still is very much Roman. The present boundary of it mirrors the Roman town, Londinium. But I am thinking of this […]
Read More London is a Roman CreationWater God
My very first archaeological dig was on a massive Roman farm estate, located right in the centre of the wheat production area of Roman Britain. It was a huge excavation and I spent a wonderful summer living in a tent. The Roman owner of this estate would have been a business “magnate”, as opposed to […]
Read More Water GodDusty and Dirty Books
As soon as you walk into an archive store, you can smell the dust. 100,000s of books and documents dating back hundreds of years, all carry dust and dirt they picked up along the way. They are encrusted with it. As you open a book or the lid of an archive box, it hits you […]
Read More Dusty and Dirty BooksThe Abbey
The meaning of historic places has very much changed in recent years. People have been using them in very different and personal ways, above and beyond the usual interest in architecture and historical events. I’ve seen this developing at Creake Abbey, an historic site I’ve been visiting for the past 15 years or so. It […]
Read More The AbbeyA glimpse of the past London Underground through the means of Vertical Archaeology
The London Underground has given me high expectations. As soon as I set foot on the platform, I expect the train to arrive instantaneously. Once left the station, the train whisks me to my next destination, where I catch another to take me home. Everything is rushed. I can’t afford to miss that connection and […]
Read More A glimpse of the past London Underground through the means of Vertical Archaeology
An Historier's Miscellany 