Archaeological test pitting in Great Bowden village
Report from Great Bowden Heritage & Archaeology Group, Leciestershire
The Festival of British Archaeology is the big public archaeological event held each year with events throughout the country. This year we decided as our contribution to dig a total of six 1×1 metre square test pits in different parts of the village with the kind permission of the landowners. We were very lucky as the weather stayed fine on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons and we only got wet on Friday evening when we dug one pit in advance. Pete Liddle, the Leicestershire County Community Archaeologist visited the site on Saturday afternoon.
We had approximately 130 visitors over the two days who went round some, or all, of the dig sites and most of whom enjoyed the tea and delicious home-made cakes in the Village Hall afterwards. Both children and adults joined in sieving the spoil tips to look for finds. Finds were more or less what we expected a good deal of post-medieval and medieval pottery with a few bits of metal, mostly nails, and animal bones, worked flint, and the clinker type remains of metalworking in one pit with clinker and burnt brick.
One site yielded an interesting substantial stone floor at one metre depth. This may be the floor of a building or a courtyard but because of its depth is very old and will require further investigation by Great Bowden Heritage and Archaeology. Unfortunately the only finds associated with the floor are metal; a part of a horseshoe, a piece of lead and a thin strip of copper, all of which make dating very difficult until further evidence is found.
Each site was supported by a display showing aspects of the history of that particular part of the village and these were duplicated in the Village Hall.
The Archive section of the Heritage Group will process and identify the finds and they will then be sent to the Archaeologists at County Hall for verification. Finally the finds will be returned to the owners of the land where the pits were dug.
Great Bowden Heritage and Archaeology would like to thank everyone who visited and supported the event. We would also welcome ideas from local people about what sort of archaeological event you would like next year.
Rosemary Culkin, Archaeological Warden for Great Bowden
