A long, long time ago

Earlier work reveals wall/room boundaries 

First break, most of concrete covering removed

Some finer troweling revealing 'Mike's wall' 

Quite a change from countryside work at Sherborne as Mike and I headed over to lend a hand to the archaeological dig, started on Monday, at the Chedworth Roman villa. On site was greeted by Martin and Nancy the archaeologists leading the activity and ably supported by a capable team of 'young' volunteers, that is until I arrived! A good deal of work had been carried out which had already revealed an impressive mosaic which had been re-covered with soil for protection, so I had to make do with a picture. It also had defined the 1700 year old room boundaries containing potential mosaics and the Roman walls. My first task as an 'archaeologist' was surprising since I had the opportunity to use a mattock, sledgehammer, metal bar and lump hammer, albeit with care, to remove a layer of concrete covering the  top of the room walls. It was here that I uncovered my first Tessara which was but one cube forming a part of the mosaic. Its fair to say the work was harder than I had anticipated given the removal &  loading of many buckets and wheel barrows with concrete followed by transporting the contents to a large skip.

However the real work was to follow with the painstaking clearing of soil & concrete to the level of the Roman stone walls using a trowel. This needed to be done carefully so as not to damage any Roman artifacts and was also under the close scrutiny of the public who were showing a keen interest in the 'dig'. I was pretty much occupied for the rest of the day on this work whilst others more experienced were either directed to work carefully on the top soil covering the room mosaics or on uncovering the top of the stone walls, a job Mike proved pretty effective at. All in all a worthwhile experience with an enthusiastic and friendly group of people. A good deal still needs to be done to reveal the secrets this dig contains after which it will be carefully covered up until such time a suitable cover can be constructed ala the existing  West Range cover building.

Good message on Badgers from the Wildlife Trusts but is this government listening, although there is a little more chance given the exit of Owen Patterson who clearly not only lost the plot but was never 'on plot'.