NRTN02 Medieval Village, Thrupp, Daventry
A summary of the work over 2014 to 2018, as initially interpreted by Steve Young, CLASP’s Archaeological Director.

A message from Dave Hayward, Chair of CLASP Trustees.

It may be that our long search for a permanent home and archive is over. Thanks to some excellent support by one of our members we have been introduced to the manager at New Creation Farm at Nether Heyford, he has offered us the chance to rent a building at the farm for use as our home. The building which is of substantial wooden construction has ample space for our archived materials together the ability to accommodate an office/classroom and finds-processing area. It is exactly what we need to satisfy our requirements.

The Trustees have visited the building and agreed in principle to accept the offer on the basis of an initial three year lease, with an opt out clause for us after a year if it is not financially viable. The agreement will entail building repairs remaining the responsibility of the owners whilst CLASP looks after alterations etc. We will have to fit the building out with shelving, furniture etc. This will, of course, entail significant fund raising for CLASP – any suggestions, help or even donations will be welcome!

The CLASP Trustees will take a final, formal decision at the next Committee meeting on the 4th February 2019. More details after that date.

Last year CLASP had a Stand at the Milton Keynes History Event. If there is sufficient support we are going to repeat this on 15 and 16 June in Campbell Park in Central Milton Keynes.

We will repeat last year’s format with visitors to our stand being invited to design mosaics that will be photographed and posted on our website. Each person who does this will be given a certificate recording their participation.

The centre of the stand will have display material about CLASP and its work.

On the other side CLASP member and author of the Ruso (Medicus) historical novels, Ruth Downie, will be on hand in period costume.

If you’re prepared to participate please email Tony Kesten, member of the Organising Committee and Trustee.

I am looking for help and possibly guidance from any member who has knowledge and experience of ‘Safeguarding and protecting people’ (Young persons and vulnerable adults). Your Trustees need to consider this subject as a matter of urgency to formulate a policy for CLASP.

If you, or anybody you know, is prepared to advise and help with the formulation of this policy I would be most appreciative; if you can help please email me on:-

chair_trustees@claspweb.org.uk

Regards,
Dave Hayward
Chair of Trustees

Colleagues,

Just a few words to wish you all a successful 2019, and to thank you all for the efforts that you have made to help CLASP sustain its ongoing technical successes. I cannot however stress enough the importance for you all to remain involved if this situation is to be sustained. Hopefully, perhaps our long held vision to establish a permanent base will move forward in 2019. If this does come to fruition there will undoubtedly be a ‘call to arms’ for help in getting the project operational.

It is also important that we appreciate the support and co-operation we enjoy from those outside of CLASP in the worlds of commercial archaeology, academia and others who provide material and financial support. These relationships are essential to enhance our technical knowledge and ensure a mutual exchange of information between this wider archaeological world and ourselves. To that effect can I suggest that members look to attend relevant courses and conferences to broaden your knowledge and understanding of relevant matters; these events enable you to create important contacts in the world of archaeology.

We are pleased to welcome some new members whom I am sure will bring valuable experiences and skills to further our fieldwork and research, you are welcome! Hopefully all members, old and new, will participate in our activities whether it is desktop research, fieldwork – in all its forms – and similarly post-excavation work, for example report preparation or finds processing. There are many opportunities that we can provide but conversely we look to you to suggest new areas of research and also methods to broaden our capabilities and knowledge

Some of you may know that we now have our own Facebook Group (click on the link above). If you are active in social media could I please ask that you get involved with our Group to make it a success. Both through this, and any other method, I ask you all to spread the word about CLASP and seek to widen our membership base.

We hope to see and hear from you all at our activities during 2019!

Regards,

Dave Hayward
Chair of Trustees

Archaeology Open Day at A14 Excavations

A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement Scheme – Excavation Open Day (see the poster above)

Saturday 8th December between 10am – 3pm

Mill Common, Huntingdon

Archaeologists are excavating along the route of the Pathfinder Link Road into Huntingdon. This is revealing some Romano-British and Medieval remains including; a possible Roman Road, ditches and pits. Finds so far include; Romano-British, Medieval and Post Medieval pottery, animal bones and evidence for later activity and we are also hoping to find evidence from the Civil War and the Early Medieval period.
Free guided tours of the site will be available every 30 minutes from 10am – 12noon and 1pm until 2.30pm. Visitors should wear stout shoes – boots and warm clothing on site.
Visitors to the site on Mill Common (opposite Huntingdon Bus Station) will be able to see some of the finds so far, meet some of the archaeologists and find out more about the excavations along the A14.
For further information, contact: Steve Sherlock, Archaeology Lead A14 (07804 698322) or A14 Public information helpline (0800 270 0114).
*Please note there is no parking available on site

Today we have switched our Facebook presence from a “Page” to a “Group”. Groups are much easier to manage and use than Pages. The “old” Page is still there, but will be deleted before very long: it is not now possible for anyone other than the administrators to post to it.

The new group is “public”, which means that anyone at all can view the posts, comments, description and list of members. But only group members can post and comment.

Anyone can ask to become a  group member – you DON’T have to be a CLASP member.

The aim is to get, or keep, people interested in local, community archaeology. Our hope is that they may choose to –

Join CLASP (only £10 a year) and get involved.

To see (and join) the Facebook group go to:

www.facebook.com/groups/456102964918909/

CLASP has recently relaunched its Facebook page. It can be found at:-

https://www.facebook.com/claspweb

We are keen to see it succeed but to do this it must have participation from CLASP members and others. You do not have to be a Facebook member yourself to either look at it or ‘post’ onto it.

Please post relevant views and thoughts together with your archaeological experiences. Any photographs you might have will be very welcome. Posts can either be made directly to the ‘page’ (by Facebook uses) or you may email them to our Facebook administrator Gina at:-

facebook@claspweb.org.uk

Secretaries/ representatives from CLASP member societies are asked to pass this message to their respective memberships if they have not already done so.

It is important for this initiative to succeed. Please support it and raise the CLASP profile on a wide front.

From Dave Hayward:

Just been looking at Historic England’s list of introductory documents that can be downloaded free from:-

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/selection-criteria/scheduling-selection/ihas-archaeology/

Really worth a look at as they provide good, basic, information on a myriad of archaeological/ historical topics, should be compulsory reading for all!

Apologies for the distorted photo first time round. Trying again:

From the CLASP Chair of Trustees, Dave Hayward:

As a follow on to the work CLASP did recording all the hill-forts in Northamptonshire, we are currently involved in a joint project with MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) researching the hill-fort on Borough Hill, Daventry. This site, ostensibly the second largest in the country, originated in the Bronze Age, was active throughout the Iron Age and, at least in part, active in the Roman. CLASP has undertaken an intensive geophysical survey on the Late Iron Age feature on the northern end of the site. Hopefully this project will result in a far better understanding of the ‘Hill.

The photograph, taken from Thrupp to the north east of Daventry, illustrates, from a distance, the northern end of Borough Hill and how it dominates the local landscape. Thanks to both commercial archaeology and work undertaken by CLASP this landscape is becoming better understood as an area full of prehistoric activity from the Neolithic period (including long barrows at Flore), significant Bronze Age occupation to the north and north west of Daventry, followed by all phases of the Iron Age across the landscape. Work undertaken by CLASP this year has revealed another Iron Age farm or settlement in the immediate area where the photograph was taken from.
If you want to get involved come and join us!

Dave Hayward