At about this time, near the end of the excavation, digging gradually decreases and the all-important recording speeds up. However spectacular the excavated remains are – and believe me these are spectacular – they are worthless unless recorded accurately enough to be able to re-create the archaeology in the office. It almost feels like the site is slowly grinding to a halt.
 
Then on Tuesday lunchtime, some real excitement...

A young pot washer sees something remarkable and rare. She is washing yet another sherd of Roman pottery. Her hands are cold. This must be the hundredth sherd washed today – or is it the thousandth? But this is different. With the mud washed off the sherd she can clearly see writing. The pot is a fairly standard type of Roman ceramic strainer, with many holes in the base for letting liquids escape. But inscribed round the side of the pot near the base is clear, and precisely created, writing. Before firing the vessel, someone had written the alphabet in the wet clay. On this sherd the letters from the middle the alphabet. How utterly remarkable. A craftsman, a literate potter, practising his or her writing skills on a humble kitchen vessel. Decoration is art but this is writing, a powerful symbol and a direct way of communicating with those who use his wares (and those who dig them up 2000 years later). It is not the only pot in Britain with the alphabet inscribed on it. Three other examples are known from elsewhere. But this is ours, in Sleaford, at Old Place, and we are all excited about it, none more so than the project’s pottery expert. No-one has ever seen him so fired-up. The site at Old Place is still buzzing! What else could be left there to find before back-filling?

This is archaeology! This is how any site progresses – nothing much seems to be happening for a while, then occurs the sudden realisation that a whole lot of spoil has been shifted, much has been exposed and interpretations of the newly exposed features abound. At the back of people’s minds is the Open Day on Sunday. The site must look its best to enable visitors to see what is happening but time is short and none is available for making it a pretty site. The rain is not helping with the work stopping regularly as the downpours make the site unworkable. Then, on Friday, the wind wrecks some of the infrastructure, trashing the Gazebo completely and causing the hasty removal of the shelter.
 
But what about the archaeology. Well the many visitors on Sunday’s Open Day can view the splendour of Trench 1, placed with precision over two parallel walls of a medieval building. This has to be a Manor House – the walls are so thick and well-constructed. But what of the alignments of stones that seem to span the distance between the walls? What was their role? It is suggested that they could have supported cross beams on which would have been nailed a wooden floor, now all decayed. Yes, that would work and be needed in this soft ground. But what date is this Manor House? Well, walls are hard to date but it certainly seems to be pre the 16th century Manor House of the Hussey family. Suggestions seem to focus on the 13th century. But there does not appear from records to have been a Manor House at that time. Well, here it is, close to the site of the 16th century Manor but not on the site. History at Old Sleaford will have to be re-written!
 
Meanwhile, in Trench 2, a trench through the ‘dark earth’, the build-up of Roman and post-Roman deposits, there are finds. Sherds from pottery of many types is recognisably Roman in date, right through to the 4th century, and animal bones indicate the meat joints consumed on the site through the centuries. There will be plenty of finds to wash! But what of the rest of Trench 2. What is that big semi-circular wall? An apsidal end of a Roman building? Part of a medieval chapel? Then a man thinks he has the answer. He has seen that ground plan before. It would appear to be part of a dovecote. Unfortunately it is right at the edge of the Trench and continues under the baulk.  Visitors come to the site and are amazed to see what lies beneath the lawns of Old Place. They bill and coo, like the doves that once inhabited the place.  The Mayor visits, impressed at the exposure of early history of the town he now fronts. Another successful day.

Its getting serious! Backs and shoulders are aching as the excavation continues. Serious amounts of spoil are being shifted and interpretations are being put forward. It is often said that, as a pursuit, archaeology is the perfect balance between the physical and the cerebral. That is certainly the case now. 

While Trench 1 is at the level where archaeology is abundant, those working in Trench 2 have to dig deep for the features.  And dig they do. As always at Old Place there are finds a-plenty to keep the momentum going. Today, a Roman coin in Trench 1, some pottery (could there be an Iron Age sherd among the pieces?) and features - a beam slot perhaps - certainly a ditch, and all in the vicinity of the magnificent walls that showed up on Day 1. There will be loads to see at the Open Day on Sunday 8th November.

Tonight at The Hub the group hosted a fascinating talk by Dr Michael Jones, former City of Lincoln Archaeologist and international expert on Roman Britain. In his talk ‘Lincoln in its Hinterland’ Michael summarised the archaeology of the city and looked beyond the city walls to the development of Roman Lincolnshire. In addition to the known finds Michael discussed various new methods of researching Roman Britain. There will be plenty for the group to undertake to learn 
more about Old Sleaford’s heritage.

For more information on the project and details on how to join, contact us at oldsleaford@gmail.com today!