24. Saturday 24 July 2010

The drums slowly beat, flags are furled and a weary band make their final assault of that hill – Sue, Amy, Rebecca, Roger, Pat and myself are the tattered remnants!

So back to work at Chapel House Wood for the last time this year – as there was still more planning required for the bone trench, and the revetment further upslope needed to be completely recorded; however our consolidated attack saw an end to this three-day demanding task. The day was fine with a light breeze blowing across the hillside so we were able to take down the other tent and pack everything away in a dry condition – an improvement on some of our previous years!

By lunchtime, all work was finished and Roger departed with the last consignment of equipment for the store and we left the site with Amy, Sue and Rebecca mounting a rear-guard, awaiting Roger’s return to collect the final Kettlewell equipment. An almost cleared site, as the morning wound down – leaving another year’s worth of humorous anecdotes, of new contacts, opportunities to renew old friendships and to permit a host of memories of past years and of the many interesting people who have made CHW such a unique experience.

Phil Carroll, UWHG information Officer

23. Friday 23 July 2010

Just for a change, we can open with a photograph showing the Wharfe valley in full summer glory – looking down from the hollow-way towards the famous lay-by and the road from Kettlewell (Grass Wood to the right of shot).

In the foreground may just be detected evidence of recent back-filling activities in “DJ” and “DK” - two of the four trenches on the slope.

This was a work session mainly spent in recording the site, Roger even forbade Michelle to touch a trowel! - and for once she, and Phil, enjoyed the pleasures of planning!

We were able to take down one of the excellent ex-military tents we have employed this year and returned this and other surplus equipment to the store. Meanwhile, Don, Amy and Laura were mapping the lower section of the excavated field bank as it ran across the open field with the trusty alidade.

Dr Tim Taylor, Reader in Archaeology at the University of Bradford, visited and held long and animated discussions with Roger, focusing on possible interpretations of this complex site.

For the first time ever, on location, we were able to hand over a completed Finds Register to the Site Director – “so thank you Bob!”

Site Director and Site Surveying Machine “Bob” conversing earlier in the week

Our trusty band was daily shrinking as, for at the end of the afternoon, we said farewell to Michelle and Laura.

Pat Carroll

22. Thursday 22 July 2010

Thursday dawned dull, overcast and distinctly cooler than the recent days – even the “summer village” of Kettlewell, the temporary home for most of the CHW workers this year, felt chilly and rather unwelcoming – unusual for this most attractive setting.

But, despite this introduction, the weather remained fine and dry and we were able to put in another full day on site – it was very much a time for winding down and finishing off lots of loose ends. The activities of yesterday were continued, planning the still open areas and carrying out further backfilling even to the extent of covering up the lower section of “DF” – see below.

A limited amount of digging still continued and Rebecca uncovered a bone bead within “DF” to go with the fragment of shale bracelet that Eddie had found in “DM” earlier in the week; and together with Eddie’s tiny piece of Samian, and the substantial greyware rim sherd that Roger recovered, these constituted the more interesting finds of the week.

At the end of the day, we said goodbye to Eddie, James and Barbara, and in the long-standing tradition of CHW, the evening was rounded off, back in the village, with a pub quiz – which Don, Rebecca and Michelle won.

Phil Carroll, UWHG information Officer

21. Wednesday 21 July 2010

We actually managed a full day’s work today, and even had sunshine in the afternoon. We received two visitors; the farmer's wife, who has always been interested in the project, came to see how far we had progressed, and our other visitor was David Thornton, the UWHG draughtsman, who inks up all the finalised plans.

The group was depleted as Phil was missing all day and Roger from mid morning – however, this did not diminish the amount of work completed and the day was most productive.

It was very much a planning day, with only a solitary figure excavating – but as this was Michelle, there were plenty of finds, for she was located in her favourite section of the “bone trench”…

Head down, trowel to hand, this was all we could see of Michelle – at times she disappeared completely from view!

Rebecca finally completed her marathon planning exercise within “DF” – ‘stone, upon stone, upon stone’ - much to her obvious relief. The rest of the planning went so well that we even managed to backfill one of the smaller trenches.

“Bob” and I were kept very busy plotting in the co-ordinates of all the plans that were being drawn.

Pat Carroll

20. Tuesday 20th July 2010

After an almost complete working day yesterday, the activities on site today focused on recording - both through detailed planning and photography – below can be seen yet another old faithful – an image of Roger and his favourite step-ladder – a perennial sight on all our digs.

Work progressed well until mid-afternoon when heavy thundery rain drove us down the hill to the shelter of Ghyll Cottage in Kettlewell – situated alongside a raging Cam Beck surging over the rocks towards the Wharfe.

The rest of the afternoon was spent here in bone cleaning, observation of some of the earlier finds and checking the digital “Finds Log” – however, the flow of items excavated during the day has certainly lessened, and there is nothing to compare with Pete’s BBQ pit or Michelle’s major bone haul of recent years.

However, what we may have lost in the quantity of actual finds, we could well have made up in interrupted work sessions this year due to the rain squalls – even the occasional spring, down near the road, has resumed!

Phil Carroll, UWHG information Officer

19. Monday 19th July 2010

Back to work at Chapel House Wood – now Week Three – Day Three and the excavation work continues across the whole site - still with the four different areas under close investigation.

The ever-increasing area of DF – known to so many from the ‘bone trench’ and the limestone pavement section downslope from the crescent shaped double walls.
Downslope, this photograph shows the three other smaller trenches (from left to right DM, DL and DK) below the hollow-way that cuts through the settlement site – in the distance, beyond the limestone scar, may be seen the original excavation area (DD) on the hillside.

Earlier CHW stalwarts will recall the “lunch tree” there and will be pleased to learn that both hawthorn trees are still doing well, despite our slight interference with their slow progress.

Phil Carroll, UWHG information Officer

18. Sunday 18th July

Greetings from a bright and dry Haworth – some 20 miles due south of the CHW excavation site – we feel sure you will have guessed by this introductory line that something untoward has stopped play for today – to be honest, it did not even allow it to commence… Very low cloud sweeping down the Wharfe obscured the upper valley sides, everything from 150 metres (asl) or so was hidden from view and beneath this layer, heavy continuous sheets of rain fell. Roger and Don had discussed the prevailing inclement conditions and took the wise decision to abort the mission for today so team members could choose what they wanted to do with their time… we came home!

© Phil Carroll

This is the kind of photograph you may have received from the 250-metre level today had we ventured up to site and provided that we could find/see the tent, however there may have been fewer happy smiles!

Phil Carroll UWHG information Officer

17. Saturday 17th July

Unlike week two, week three did not start with glorious sunshine, just the opposite!

The first half of the morning saw all the diggers huddled in the tent waiting forlornly for the rain to stop. Eventually the weather improved enough to allow work to start and although there were a few more showers, activity was possible for the rest of the day.

Excavation continued on the revetment above the bone passage, the grid of test pits under the tree and the area where the bank leading up from the field system possibly meets the front edge of the settlement. Meanwhile, Laura planned the vertical face of part of the bone passage
wall.

© Pat Carroll

The finds were as usual mainly bone and tooth, the most interesting find of the day being part of a shale bracelet. Fortunately, for the new finds team (Pat and Phil) it was not a very productive day, which gave them the chance to become happy and confident in the use of Bob, without any pressure.

Pat Carroll

16. Friday 16th July

Despite another ominous weather forecast, Roger, ever the optimist, insisted we "go up the hill". Sure enough the heavens opened and everybody crowded into the 2 tents, with the exception of Don, who appeared to like standing in the torrential rain. The time slipped by as various anecdotes were related by Roger.

Around midday we had a bedraggled visitor in the shape of Jennifer, a Masters student from York, who is reporting on the bone assemblage from CHW.

Don supervises students in the test pits © Jane Lunnon

After a delayed and leisurely lunch the skies did indeed brighten and we set to work continuing with planning, the test pits and DM. 4:30 saw the departure of the bulk of the Newcastle students and the site certainly seem a lot quieter with their absence.

Michelle takes Bob home for the night © Jane Lunnon

Jane, Debbie and Alan also sadly said goodbye to CHW and Michelle for 2010

Alan Williams

15. Thursday 15th July 2010

Another overcast morning with the threat of heavy showers.


Work continued on the test pits and a new 2½ metre square trench (DM) was opened just south of the finds tent in a level area between two hollows, to see if any structure occupied this area.



The showers then started arriving in rapid succession making work difficult, and in the case of the main trench, downright dangerous on the slippery limestone. Don decided that DF should be abandoned.

The unstoppable Michelle

© Jane Lunnon

Michelle, however, soldiered on in the bone trench; how do you stop her working ?


Several of the trustees from the Yorkshire Dales Landscape Research Trust paid the site a visit at lunchtime, and were given a guided tour by Roger before retiring to the “Dining Marquee” - which bore a very close resemblance to an emptied equipment ex-army tent!

By 2 o'clock it was obvious that any further work was not going to be possible, so the order was given to retreat.

Jennifer with the day's box of finds

© Jane Lunnon

Today we said goodbye to Pauline and Jennifer, who had apparently enjoyed themselves despite the rigors of the Dales weather.

Alan Williams, UWHG webmaster

14. Wednesday 14th July 2010

Despite heavy overnight rain the day started off dry. The test pit, DJ, at the bottom of the steep slope below the tents was drawn in section and then back filled. The Newcastle students were set on opening up another test pit (DK) to the north of the DJ test pit.

Don took his surveyors to the other side of the wall where they surveyed two long building platforms and associated walls.

Roger caused a bit of a stir amongst CHW veterans as he started to dismantle the wall below the “bone trench” but this proved to be only a minor incursion.

Heartstopping moment for dig veterans as part of the curved wall is dismantled

© Jane Lunnon

Michelle continued her work in the “bone trench” uncovering some rather impressive “flooring”.

Michelle and Jennifer working hard in the old bone trench,

while Roger instructs Aidan in planning techniques

© Jane Lunnon

The number of finds seems to be decreasing, even to the extent that the now partially redundant Finds Team were redeployed to actually do some digging.

Debbie learns about triangulation © Jane Lunnon

Roger had just started giving a talk on site photography when the promised rain arrived with a vengeance, which resulted in a very rapid packing up and an early finish.

Alan Williams, UWHG webmaster

13. Tuesday 13th July 2010

The Finds Team were supplemented by Pauline today which was all to the good as the finds kept coming thick and fast. These were predominantly animal bones, including some rather large examples, and more teeth.

Ruth came to dig for the day and Helen also visited us and did some sketches until the cold forced her to retreat.

Don and his team of students continued with their surveying further down the hillside and the alidade made its first appearance.

Michelle's metal detecting revealed some more pieces of corroded iron and another piece of lead. The lead looked just like a piece of limestone and not until it was handled was it obvious that it was not stone. It does rather beg the question as to how many other pieces may have been mistaken in the past. It just goes to show that metal detecting in the right hands is a very useful tool.

Alan Williams, UWHG Webmaster

12. Week 2 - Monday 12th July 2010

A rejuvenated Roger was back on site but so was the rain; not hard enough to stop play, just enough to make digging unpleasant and the Find Teams note book become very soggy!.

Don and two of the Newcastle students started surveying the area about 20 metres from the east end of the trench edge near the hollow way.

We were joined by young Jennifer, a member of the Skipton branch of the Young Archaeologists Club, who put in a splendid effort and said that she enjoyed her day despite the rain.

Aidan continued his mammoth planning task and Michelle not only excavated copious amounts of bone but also a collection of snails! Not content with this, she also spent time before the day's activities began, and after it finished, by using her metal detector to find several objects.

A prolonged lunch break gave us some time to dry out from the rain, whilst Roger and Don reflected on the site, accompanied by rather loud giggles from the equipment tent housing
the students.

Some people actually enjoy digging in the rain!

A productive day and a busy time for the Finds Team.

Alan Williams, UWHG

11. Week 2 - Sunday 11th July 2010

Roger took the day off and left Don to crack the whip. Work continued on rather slowly with a reduced work force, and the absence of Michelle, in particular, meant that the Finds Team had a leisurely day.

A rather fragile rim sherd of probable Romano-British pottery was found near the trench edge which should supply some more valuable dating evidence.

Bob's battery died in the afternoon which should not have been a problem until it was realised that Roger had the spare battery back in Kettlewell! Finds tags were left in the trench until tomorrow and fingers were crossed that the electric fence would keep out the sheep.

meticulous digging by Debbie © Jane Lunnon

Alan Williams, UWHG

10. Week 2 - Sat 10th July 2010

A glorious sunny day and time for a change of Finds Teams. Ruth, Helen and Chris handed over the baton to Jane and Alan. Chris spent some time introducing the intricacies of Bob to the new team before departing for a well earned rest.

The diggers were supplemented by some of Don's colleagues from the CBA and continued to excavate the area to the west of the semi-circular “bone trench”. Planning frames were in evidence as Rebecca and Aidan planned the area to the east of the bone trench

New finds team in action © Jane Lunnon

Alan Williams, UWHG Membership Sec/Webmaster

9. Week 1 - Friday 9th July

Day 6 -

When the site had been opened up and Bob ready for action, Roger talked to the group about resistivity and demonstrated how to use the resistivity meter. Three of the students were then delegated to set up 3 x 10m squares and to use the resistivity meter on these.
Meanwhile Danny and Alex returned to the planning of the area of the lower wall which they had started yesterday and the rest of the team continued to dig. There were fewer finds today, and nothing exciting, just the usual pieces of bone. However, the site is now looking beautifully clean and tidy!

In the afternoon Elizabeth, Luke and Jo set up 12 x 1 metre squares in the area below the site (DJ) and began to dig 3 of these, collecting finds and soil for sampling. The other students continued with their allotted tasks, but obviously the end of the week feeling had set in – they are ready for their well earned day off tomorrow.

Don had taken a day off today and rumour has it that he was off on a 20 mile hike! The finds team is to change tomorrow, with Ruth and Chris. finishing tonight, and Jane and Alan taking over the reins. Jane will also take over the daily blog.

Ruth Spencer

8. Week 1 - Thursday 8th July

Day 5 -

A fine day today, with only a few spots of rain, but with a gentle breeze. Digging continued much as yesterday, but a student was co-opted on to the Finds Team to hold the reflector for ‘Bob’. This enabled Chris and Ruth to concentrate on coping with finds and recording them at the same time. This worked very well as it meant that we actually had proper coffee and lunch breaks at the same time as everyone else and we finished almost at the same time at the end of the day!

Emily, Roger, Don & mortarium - smiles all round ! © Ruth Spencer

Two great excitements of the day were two finds of small pieces of lead – this was thanks to Michelle and her metal detector; and in the afternoon Emily found a piece of a mortarium. The smiles on Don’s and Roger’s faces when they saw this had to be seen to be believed! Altogether a good day!

Ruth Spencer

7. Week 1 - Wednesday 7th July

Digging Day 4 -


A delayed start this morning due to the steady rain. It was still raining when we met on site at 10.30am, so Roger took the students on an expedition to see another part of the site. Michelle continued to play with her new metal detector, finding all the nails we lost last year!

Michelle with the detector © Ruth Spencer

The rain eventually stopped and digging recommenced. The site is looking beautifully clean now and it was exciting to see at least 2 possible post holes emerging from just below the lowest wall. Finds are also beginning to emerge from context 001 – the area which was under the stone pile last year.

The improvement in the weather also saw the arrival of Chris who is taking over from Helen (Steele) on the Finds Team. He very quickly became involved and it was good to have a third member in the team as the finds suddenly came thick and fast. Helen left us soon after lunch-time, so Chris and Ruth were kept pretty busy for the rest of the day.

Ruth Spencer

6. Week 1 - Tuesday 6th July

Digging Day 3 -
Today started quietly with Roger taking everyone but Michelle, Ruth and Don to explore the northern end of the CHW complex. The three old hands began to dig below the lower wall and almost immediately Ruth, closely followed by Michelle, unearthed the first finds of the day.

On the return of everyone else, digging in earnest began and very soon the finds were coming thick and fast. Our Total Station “Bob” was much more co-operative today (or are we just learning how to handle him?), so I am sure that very soon, plotting the finds will be no problem.

No real excitement today; the weather kept fine for the most part, with just a few short showers and judging from the chatter and laughter amongst the diggers, everyone seems to be enjoying themselves.

Ruth Spencer

5. Week 1 - Monday 5th July

Digging Day 2 -
Today we welcomed three more new students from Newcastle University and Don began by giving us all a brief introduction to the CHW site. The challenge for the day then was to remove the stone pile from the top (west) of the site for the second time!

While the students were occupied with this, Michelle and Emily started to clean the loose soil left after we had removed the stones and polythene yesterday, and Ruth and Helen struggled to come to terms with “Bob” our new (and hated already!) Total Station. Fortunately there were no finds today!

Later in the afternoon when these tasks were almost completed, Roger, assisted by Don, showed us the intricacies of setting up base lines, right angles, taking into account the hill slope, etc, etc. with a practice demonstration achieved by 3 of the students.
Digging in earnest will start tomorrow and the forecast looks good.

Ruth Spencer

4. Week 1 - Sunday 5th July

Digging Day 1 -
Here we are back at CHW again for another 3 weeks of glorious digging! The hill just gets steeper, but it made ‘us oldies’ feel much better to see that both Don and Roger were out of breath as they reached the top!
Day 1 started with introductions and a welcome to the 6 students from Newcastle University, who are with us this year. It was good to see Michelle and Rebecca back with us again, and of course, Don.
The first task was to set up the shelter and ’loo tents – the storage and finds tents having been set up earlier in the week. When this was done, and both well pegged down, the next task was to start to lift the stones, soil and black polythene sheeting, put down at the end of last year’s dig to protect the site.
Suddenly it was coffee time and as it was blowing fairly hard by this time, we all retreated to the shelter tent. But not for long! A sudden extra strong gust of wind, the sides of the tent billowed and the roof took off! The small tear in the roof, which we thought could be fixed tomorrow, suddenly became 2 extremely large tears and there we were with a roofless shelter tent!
So then we had to dismantle it all (why did we put the pegs in so firmly?) and it was back to moving soil and stones. As lunch time approached, the first drops of rain started to fall, so we divided into 2 groups and squeezed into the storage and finds tents to eat our sandwiches. And the rain kept coming, and at 3pm Roger decided that we should call it a day. We look forward to seeing better weather and more new faces tomorrow.

Digging gets under way © Ruth Spencer

Ruth Spencer

3. Week 1 - Saturday 4th July

Here we are back at CHW again for another 3 weeks of glorious digging! The hill just gets steeper, but it made ‘us oldies’ feel much better to see that both Don and Roger were out of breath as they reached the top!
Day 1 started with introductions and a welcome to the 6 students from Newcastle University, who are with us this year. It was good to see Michelle and Rebecca back with us again and of course Don.

Clearing away top soil © Ruth Spencer

The first task was to set up the shelter and ’loo tents – the storage and finds tents having been set up earlier in the week. When this was done, and both well pegged down, the next task was to start to lift the stones, soil and black polythene sheeting, put down at the end of last year’s dig to protect the site.

Suddenly it was coffee time and as it was blowing fairly hard by this time, we all retreated to the shelter tent. But not for long! A sudden extra strong gust of wind, the sides of the tent billowed and the roof took off! The small tear in the roof, which we thought could be fixed tomorrow, suddenly became 2 extremely large tears and there we were with a roofless shelter tent!

So then we had to dismantle it all (why did we put the pegs in so firmly?) and it was back to moving soil and stones. As lunch time approached, the first drops of rain started to fall, so we divided into 2 groups and squeezed into the storage and finds tents to eat our sandwiches. And the rain kept coming and at 3pm Roger decided that we should call it a day. We look forward to seeing better weather and more new faces tomorrow.

Ruth Spencer

2. Finds Team Training day - 28 June 2010

On 28 June, members of the Chapel House Wood Finds Management Team gathered on site for training on the new total station, which will replace the beloved (!) old manual system of offsets and triangulation by tape measure.

Meet Bob! © Jane Lunnon

Roger was extremely patient - as always - with us as we struggled through our experiential learning sessions.

While each group had a go familiarising themselves with Bob (our affectionate nickname for the total station, which has the brand name of "The Builder", because it was designed for use on construction sites), the others were putting up the two ex-army tents - another interesting learning exercise!! Let's hope they won't need to be tested in stormy weather as previous tents have been.

Getting to know Bob © Jane Lunnon

The resident blackbird was rather excited to see us back up on site - every year he eagerly hops around the dig waiting for all those juicy worms to be dug up and thrown out for him to collect.

Jane Lunnon, UWHG archivist

1. Project background

Since 2002, members of the Upper Wharfedale Heritage Group have been involved in excavations at Chapel House Wood in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, under the guidance of Dr Roger Martlew of the Yorkshire Dales Landscape Research Trust and in conjunction with the Earthwatch Institute and the Yorkshire Dales National Park

The 2009 season's dig © Jane Lunnon

Chapel House Wood is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, situated on private land, first surveyed by Arthur Raistrick in 1960 and 1965 and later by Stewart Ainsworth in 1977.

The site is mainly Romano-British and Iron Age, spread over a large area above the River Wharfe.

In this blog we will keep you updated on the 2010 season's dig.

For detailed information on the project see Upper Wharfedale's website at: http://www.uwhg.org.uk/reports/chapel_house/chapel_house.html
and the Yorkshire Dales Landscpae Research Trust's website at:
http://ydlrt.co.uk/chw_main/chw_main.html

The view over the Wharfe valley from the CHW site © Jane Lunnon

Jane Lunnon, UWHG Archivist