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Back in the 1950s and 1960s, two families of amateur archaeologists began excavating some Roman remains in what is now a public park in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. They were told to keep quiet about their finds because the British Museum believed they might indicate the existence of an important Roman site locally, particularly since a large find of Roman coins had been made here at the turn of the century.
The site is located on the route of one of Britain's main Roman roads, Ermine Street, which linked London with Lincoln, and from there with the principal Roman town in the north of England, York. Could Time Team find the line of Ermine Street, no sign of which exists above ground in Cheshunt Park today? And what else lies beneath the grass, which has remained undisturbed since the excavations of those amateur archaeologists 40 years or so ago?
Back in the 1950s and 1960s, two families of amateur archaeologists began excavating some Roman remains in what is now a public park in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. They were told to keep quiet about their finds because the British Museum believed they might indicate the existence of an important Roman site locally, particularly since a large find of Roman coins had been made here at the turn of the century.
The site is located on the route of one of Britain's main Roman roads, Ermine Street, which linked London with Lincoln, and from there with the principal Roman town in the north of England, York. Could Time Team find the line of Ermine Street, no sign of which exists above ground in Cheshunt Park today? And what else lies beneath the grass, which has remained undisturbed since the excavations of those amateur archaeologists 40 years or so ago?
The Mullinger and Howlett families, who carried out those digs in the late 1950s and early 1960s, dug more than 80 trenches altogether. As well as uncovering a wide range of Roman tiles, pottery and other artefacts, they found the remains of various buildings, which neither they nor archaeological experts at the time could identify with any degree of certainty. Time Team, with just three days to see whether it can come up with a more definitive picture of the site, has to make do with just eight trenches. Even that is a big job, which sees diggers racing to complete their excavations by the end of Day Three.
Jean Mullinger still lives alongside the park. Why did she want to see the excavations she took part in as a young woman revisited by Time Team today? 'We thought that this had been hidden long enough,' she says, explaining why she contacted Time Team. 'We wanted something done about it. My husband's dead now, so there's just myself left to say something.'
Jean's husband had led the original digs because 'he had a thing about Romans'. So too does Time Team's regular Roman expert, Guy de la Bédoyère, who is on hand, together with another Roman specialist, Rosalind Niblett, to help out with the identification of any finds. But first, the Team must see how the past excavations relate to the parkland today.
Fortunately, the Mullingers and Howletts kept a detailed diary of their digs, with a box grid plan showing the position of their various trenches. Less fortunately, a lot of the archaeology now appears to be beneath an overgrown thicket. As well as the usual geophysics survey work, there is a lot of clearance work needed before the trenches can get under way. 'I'm advocating getting a big machine in there to strip that out – not one of these little strimmer jobs,' says Phil, and a 'big machine' is duly moved in to clear the way.
Trench One is opened to try to pick up a long drain-like feature discovered in the original excavations. The geophysics survey, meanwhile, is providing clear signs of occupation, including boundary ditches and what may be the remains of buildings. Trench Two is opened a few metres from the first trench to try to pick up one such building and ditch. On Day Two this trench produces an almost complete, 4th-century, black burnished-ware Roman storage jar; and on Day Three a serving bowl made of the same material.
Overall, it's thought that the best way to try to make sense of the site is to find out how it relates to the road running through it, Ermine Street. And that, inevitably, is where landscape archaeologist Stewart Ainsworth comes in. From the helicopter he spots a parch mark cutting across the parkland, which follows the known line of Ermine Street beyond the park. Geophysics results confirm the line on the ground, so Trench Three is opened here.
By mid-morning on Day Two, Phil has uncovered more of the drain-like feature in Trench One. Peter Reynolds, an expert in ancient industrial techniques, thinks that it is not a drain, however, but a flue. This would have carried super-heated air to a forge for making iron or bronze. Peter Reynolds thinks it could also have supplied hot air for a Roman brewery, for use in malting barley.
Carenza, meanwhile, is in charge of Trench Four, and is looking for evidence of buildings closer to the line of Ermine Street. Trench Five is opened, under Phil's jurisdiction, to try to pick up the road nearer to the other trenches; Phil identifies what appears to be one of the drainage ditches that would have run alongside the road. Trench Six, under Jenni Butterworth's watchful eye, is located to seek out more structures between Trench One and the line of the road. The finds suggest that other buildings surrounded the 'brewery'; burn marks on one side of roof tiles suggest that some of them, at least, may have burned down at some point in the past.
By Day Three, the exact line of Ermine Street has been plotted. Trench Seven is opened adjacent to Trench One to try to pick up what could be another road running at a different alignment to Ermine Street (and possibly dating from the later Saxon period); and Trench Eight is opened alongside the line of Ermine Street itself.
As seems to happen so often with Time Team, one of the most exciting discoveries is made towards the end of the third day. Disappearing beneath a tangle of tree roots in Trench Eight is a tessellated (mosaic) surface. It's hard to know for sure what sort of building it was once a part of, but Peter Reynolds is now convinced that there was a complex of buildings here devoted to malting, brewing and – why not? – selling beer. The tessellated surface could even be the floor surface of a Roman 'pub'. Phil takes little persuading anyway, as he passes around the drinks at the end of the final day.
Time Team excavations don't start when the diggers arrive nor finish when they leave. Each programme is preceded by preliminary research – including, where necessary, the production of a 'Project Design' or evaluation, which spells out what the Team intends to do during the dig and what will happen to finds and records afterwards.
The evaluation for the Cheshunt programme is comparatively brief; those for scheduled sites can run to many thousands of words. But it gives an idea of how Time Team digs are planned – and what happens (the post-excavation work) when the camera crews and diggers have departed.
Proposed archaeological evaluation at Cheshunt, Hertfordshire: Project design
Jenni Butterworth, Researcher, Videotext Communications Ltd
1.11 The site is situated in Cheshunt Park, Cheshunt, Hertfordshire.
1.12 In the 1950s and 60s, a team of local amateur archaeologists dug a series of excavations across the park, in search of Roman remains.
1.13 The site is currently a public park, and is an area of special grassland.
1.2 Circumstances of the project
1.21 This project design outlines a proposed archaeological evaluation to be undertaken as part of a Channel Four Time Team television programme and will be carried out within their established format over three days. Time Team is made by Videotext Communications Ltd. It is anticipated that the project will be carried out over 26-28 June 2001.
1.22 The site is owned by Broxbourne Borough Council, and has public access. It is an area of special grassland. Videotext Communications Ltd is responsible for negotiating all relevant permissions for carrying out the work.
1.23 Videotext Communications Ltd is responsible for the organization and cost of all backfilling and reinstatement at the site, to the satisfaction of the landowner and relevant archaeological standards.
1.3 Archaeology and Time Team: statement and responsibility
1.31 The working relationship between archaeologists and film crews on Time Team excavations has been refined during the production of over seventy episodes of the programme. All crews have extensive experience of filming on archaeological sites and are aware of both the archaeological and health and safety issues posed by such work.
1.32 On site, all decisions regarding the work are formulated from an archaeological perspective by the archaeological team present, assisted by the relevant specialists and local archaeological officers, with reference to the project design. In case of disputes between crews and archaeologists over work in progress, the ultimate archaeological responsibility for meeting the terms of the project design for Time Team lies with Professor Mick Aston.
1.4 Previous archaeological work
1.41 Local amateur archaeologists (led by the Mullingers and Howletts) excavated a series of trenches over a wide area of the park in the 1950s and 1960s. The main excavations were in 'Pump Meadow', where they discovered a flue/drain system with an oven/drier, and various areas of hardstanding. In addition, they discovered what may be a building or workshop area. Further finds were made to the north, in 'Sixteen Acres'. More recently, Roman material was also discovered in 'Sixteen Acres' during pylon erection, and an evaluation in the south of the park is currently underway.
1.42 The Mullinger/Howlett paper archive is deposited in Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies Library, and Jean Mullinger retains some papers as well. A sample of the finds recovered are deposited at Lowewood Museum, Broxbourne. The project team have had access to all three sources prior to the work commencing. Both the county SMR and Record Office have also been consulted for documentation relating to Cheshunt.
1.5 Archive deposition
1.51 It is intended that, subject to the agreement of the landowner, the excavated material and records will be deposited and curated at Lowewood Museum.
1.52 The archive will include all materials recovered and all written, drawn and photographic records relating directly to the investigations undertaken. It will be quantified, ordered, indexed and internally consistent before transfer to the recipient museum. It will also contain a site matrix, a site summary and brief written observations on the artifactual and environmental data.
2.1 Research design
2.11 This project offers the opportunity to collate the information about, and re-establish the location of, the previous excavations at the site and establish the nature of Roman settlement in the park.
2.12 The work carried out during this project will form an important resource for the future management and interpretation of the site.
2.13 Although small in scale, a well-resourced three day evaluation is sufficient to address a number of specific aims and objectives. These can be divided into categories which represent the over-arching aims of the work (a) to characterize the archaeological resource at the site, and (b) to provide a condition survey of the monument:
1. To establish the extent and location of the previous excavations at the site.
2. To assess the nature of Roman settlement at the site.
3. To locate the course of Ermine Street through Cheshunt Park.
4. To examine the reported pits in 'Pump Meadow'.
2.2 Publication and presentation
2.21 Post-excavation analysis, archive management and writing of the archaeological report will be undertaken by Time Team's archaeological officer, Kate Edwards, on behalf of Videotext Communications Ltd. The report will be submitted to the county SMR. It will include:
1. The aims and methods adopted in the course of investigation.
2. The nature, location, extent, date, significance and quality of any archaeological and environmental material uncovered.
3. The anticipated degree of survival of archaeological deposits and structures across the site, as deduced from its present state and recent past.
4. Appropriate illustrative material including maps, plans, sections, drawings and photographs.
5. Summary, including comparison between 2, 3 and 4.
6. The location and size of the archive.
7. Recommendations for future research.
2.22 Specialist and finds reports for inclusion in the archaeological report will be prepared by experts contracted by Videotext Communications Ltd.
2.23 A geophysical survey report including diagrams, text and interpretation on a CAD system will be prepared. Copies of the field data and report will lodged with the county SMR.
3.1 Survey
3.11 Any contour survey of the site will be carried out using a Trimble Real Time Differential GPS survey system or similar.
'There were just so many inventions and innovations going on in the 1600s! People were willing to try anything. It's true that they didn't get into mass production, urbanisation and slums, but they did start the wheels turning. I'm also a bit suspicious about the fact that every important industrial centre in 19th-century Britain has a Cistercian abbey in the middle of it. Maybe the roots for this whole movement into industry originate as early as the 15th century.'
'Monasteries were already working away on various projects like metalworking, driven by influential bailiffs and the like. I think the whole idea of industrial-scale manufacture could have been fermenting in those early times. When the dissolution of the monasteries happens people start buying up the monastic sites with established workshops, kilns and even furnaces in rare cases. I've just got this sneaking suspicion that the whole thing could have started developing that early. However, having said that, I'm sure that the big push really does happen in the 17th century. That's the catalyst.'
'I thought it was great. I like my industrial archaeology clean and rural. I did a lot of work on both parts of the reconstruction cameo and learnt a few new things along the way. I think I can safely say that it was a good programme to do. I certainly enjoyed it.'