Archaeology

The archaeology group was formed in April 2007 as a result of David Jones from Manor Farm, Bredenbury, mentioning that there were at least two lost buildings within 100 metres of his present house. One was thought to be an old tithe barn, the other an old farmhouse, which was purchased by Queen Anne’s bounty in 1743, to be used as the Rectory.

The decision was taken to start an archaeology group within the BDLHS and excavations began in the general area of this missing rectory. This was the ideal site to train anyone who was interested in excavations but had no previous experience. Steve Palmer, who heads the group, has had several seasons of excavations with Herefordshire Archaeology who gave us permission to undertake this dig, and they will be overseeing all excavations done by ourselves in the future.

For Latest News see below

The group has met and investigated this site fortnightly since April 2007 and are producing some great results. The remains of the base of the house walls are now visible again, for the first time in 150 years. Trays upon trays of finds have come to light as a result of our efforts and slowly but surely we are beginning to piece together the story of this building, but, as is usual with archaeology, there is still some way to go.

If anyone is interested in joining us in our endeavours, please contact Steve Palmer by telephone on 01885 490269 or e-mail at: stevep50@fsmail.net.

Archaeology Group Update - July 2010

Since the last report, quite a lot has happened. First, and foremost, the Heritage Lottery application was successful, and we were awarded £15,500 to proceed with a 12 month investigation of Manor Farm and its environs.

The project began in march 2010 with a walkover and topographical survey. Thanks to our intrepid volunteers braving some very wet and cold conditions this is virtually finished.

The next part of the project was a Geophysical survey covering areas of interest on this site. There are obvious holloways and building platforms, which were targeted to help position our trenches when the excavations begin in September this year. This has not been quite the success we had hoped for ! The method used was resistivity, where a low voltage current is sent into the ground by one spike of the machine, and is received by the other one. Basically this is testing the resistance of the ground, every half metre. Damp or soft soil, such as you would find in the backfill of ditches or pits give a low resistance reading, whilst stone or brick below the ground indicating possible structures, give a high reading. These are recorded by the machine and a printout can then be done of the area covered. Unfortunately when we came to do the survey, the ground was too dry for the machine to distinguish between high and low. Luckily we can still be guided to structures, ditches, pits and geology by dowsing.

We do intend to give the machine a chance to redeem itself when there is more moisture in the ground.

We then continued with an exhibition of an overview of the project thus far, this was held in the Parish Room at Bredenbury in early June. On show were; Old Maps, Aerial Photographs, Project Photographs, Local Finds ( including Romano-British Pottery which appears to have been made at Batchley) and Metal detecting finds from the area. The day was a great success, again made possible by our willing volunteers. Thank You All. (see pictures below).

The Project will move another step towards completion in September, when, what I consider to be the most exciting part begins. 15 days of excavation; Brilliant !

There is a chance here for you to be involved. We need volunteers to; dig, wash finds, to record finds, etc. contact me: Steve Palmer. On: 01885 490269 if interested .

Thank you for your interest.

Steve Palmer

Archaeology Group Update - January 2010

Unfortunately with the weather and work commitments last year virtually no archaeology took place in 2009. My apologies to all who had looked forward to more digging ventures.

I do have to report that an application has been made to the 'Heritage Lottery Fund' for a grant to undertake a 12 month long investigation of 'Manor Farm', Bredenbury, and its environs. I am awaiting a response. Fingers crossed we will get funding, and will be working with Hereford Archaeology to try and establish Bredenbury's beginnings and subsequent growth. Everyone can join in with this one if successful. The local schools are interested in making this investigation part of their curriculum this year.

In the meantime we as a group have been invited by Mr George Woodruff to begin archaeological investigations at the 'Church House', Acton Beauchamp. This will be focused on the old garden area. We hope to find evidence of earlier structures which will lead to an understanding of the site. This should be an interesting investigation. Full details will appear on this website A.S.A.P.

Bromyard Archaeology Group began their series of back garden test pits on Saturday 12th July 2008. These are linked to the historical buildings survey being carried out by Duncan James.

The first test pit was carried out in the garden of Ron and Ann Williams, 12, Church Street.

We met at 9-30 am to begin what I believe will be a very interesting and exciting series of archaeological investigations within the very heart of Bromyard. I had instigated the project and was excited to be getting it under way. Ron and Ann had kindly given us permission and we were ready to begin. Everything was in place and the volunteers were keen. They were Andrew Palmer, Peter and Joy Mesdag, Jilly Goulding and Kathi Jones with her very keen youngsters, Cameron and Megan, who took to archaeology like ducks to water! Ann joined in on Sunday morning and had a great time washing finds, while Ron kept us supplied with refreshments.

Digging began and every bucketful of soil was sieved to ensure nothing was missed. As expected, the top spits ( a spit is 10 cms deep ) contained relatively modern material, but at a depth of 30 to 40 cms we were encountering what appeared to be late medieval pottery; these will be examined by our pottery expert Benedikte for precise dating. If it turns out to be this early it will probably pre-date any of the present buildings on Church Street and will be evidence of our medieval Bromyardians.

At 60 cms two rows of stones appeared these were laid horizontally; we had by a stroke of luck chanced upon an archaeological feature! We carefully cleaned the feature and photographed what appears to be an 18^th century stone lined drain, which possibly served cottages 8 and 10. Cottage number 8 has a cellar and judging by the old well just outside the door some drainage may have been required. The drain had no discernible silt build-up indicating that it probably carried relatively clean water. It would also have originally had stone capping, to prevent soil ingress.

All in all it was an excellent weekend which everyone involved enjoyed (even though we got soaked a few times by our lovely summer weather!) Thanks once again to, Ron and Ann, and to our volunteers. We are now ready for the next one. Will keep you posted.

Steve Palmer.

In April 2007 as a result of David Jones from Manor Farm, Bredenbury, mentioning that there were at least two lost buildings within 100 metres of his present house. One was thought to be an old tithe barn, the other an old farmhouse, which was purchased by Queen Anne’s bounty in 1743, to be used as the Rectory.