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The Wolverhampton Archaeology Group (WAG)
"Infradig"

Archaeology for Schools. Please click here for more details.

We had a great morning at Wren's Nest on April 5th, thanks to Graham Wharton.
The kids were fascinated by fossilised sea cucumber trails (left)
Looking for fossils (right)

www.tlaloc.demon.co.uk

Last updated on 04/05/2008

The Wolverhampton Archaeology Group Contacts
Chairman:Clive WestwoodClive Westwood
Contacts:Sandra Vint
Sue Foster
Jan/Martin Holland		01952 402550
07790 837096
01902 562568
Social Secretary:Jan Hollandjan@tlaloc.demon.co.uk
Treasurer:Jan Hollandjan@tlaloc.demon.co.uk
Publicity:Sue Foster07790 837096 Sue Foster
Research:Sue Foster07790 837096 Sue Foster
Webmaster:Martin Hollandmartin@tlaloc.demon.co.uk

The Wolverhampton Archaeology Group aims to support and encourage the practice of archaeology in and around the City of Wolverhampton.
There are regular meetings which are detailed under the "events" section and archaeology projects which are undertaken by group members.

WAG News

March 19th Keith Prosser

Keith gave a fascinating talk on excavations "Time Zone" had done in the Shetlands.

Feb 27th Professor John Hunt

An informative presentation about the ways Medieval villages came in to being and how they enlarged over the ensueing years. Using several examples from Staffordshire, including Acton Trussell, Dr Hunt explained to us how and why the village houses extended along a main road, in close proximity to the market place, Manor House and church.

Jan 30th Maureen Hunt

When it's gone, it will be too late. Maureen talked about Penn Common which is in danger from development. It seems there are no hereditary Commoners left (who had grazing rights there) and the only way in which the common can be safeguarded is if the general public uses it for recreational purposes. She commented about encroachment onto the common by local residents extending their gardens and on the disappearance of trees (which are supposed to be protected).

December 19th Christmas Meal

We changed venue for this one as we had eaten at the Summer House on several occasions and the food had always been good. Anyway, it was a little closer for most than the Forresters Arms. As expected, we had a very good time there.

November 28th Martin Latham

Martin brought items of medieval clothing, helmets and weaponry which he described and let us try out. The weight of all that armour was enough to sap the will to fight for any but a very strong and fit man.

October 11th Carl Chinn

Carl kept a packed house spell bound for 3 hours. A fascinating and very entertaining evening.

September 26th Project Reports

Rain curtailed a lot of digging this year. Carol talked about some research she had been doing as part of the WAG Research Group run by Sue.

Clive talked about the latest developments in the wood at Wrottesley.
Martin presented the findings at Himley Hall. We are not sure if we have found the site of the original Hall. There are some interesting marks at the edge of the geophysics which need to be followed up later in the year.

Sue presented her projects. The round parch mark at Tuter's Hill is likely to be a dew pond. We need to keep an eye on that area and have a closer look if the marks appear again, possibly doing a psudosection across it. Geophysics at Hardwick has shown a building at an angle to the road, which agrees with a map Carol had of the original farm buildings. Unfortunately, the land is now under cultivation and there may be access problems when it is free again unless we get permission to dig from Natural England.

Martin then gave a powerpoint presentation on how we have used GPS to draw site plans. GPS is accurate enough for field boundaries where the distances are several hundred metres. For accurate location of features within such as trenches etc, conventional surveying should be used. He then described a CBA conference which he and Jan had been to and described how he had learnt about pseudosections there. A pseudosection is a vertical resistivity section along a traverse. It is done by connecting the datalogger up in the form of a Wenner array and varying the probe width for each traverse thus obtaining resistance readings at different depths. He had devised the kit needed to do this.

August 17th Summer Social

We had brought the date forward a week to avoid the V Festival, and it paid off. Our friends from Telford had a much easier journey than last year. Again, it was a pleasant evening at the Swan, Brewood playing 9 pin skittles and there was the usual excellent buffet. Thanks to Jan for organising it.

July 21st WAG Field Trip

Well, we picked the wettest day for it. We made it to the Kinver rock houses and had a fascinating tour of these. However, our journey south was thwarted by the rising Stour and we just made it via Copley. The next destination was Harvington Hall, a lovely old manor house with enough priest holes to hide a family. Some of us will return there to try their Elizabethan trout dish. We were going on to Worcester, but none of us had amphibious vehicles so we made our way back to Wolverhampton. The A449 was blocked at Kidderminster so we had to return via Stourbridge.
Altogether a fantastic day out despite the weather. Thanks to Chris Robinson who organised it but denies anything to do with the rain!

June 27th The Berth at Baschurch

Mrs Lewis is a very enthusiastic speaker and her talk was very well received and created much discussion. The Berth (old English (?Anglo Saxon)) for Iron Age hill fort has been excavated in the '60s, unfortunately not very well as there were no drawings or site notes. WAG could have done better! However, interest has been revived and hopefully some work can be done under the auspices of English Heritage.

May 23rd Ancient Egypt

Ian, who is the chairman of the Stafford Egyptology society, ably supported by Janet, Membership secretary performed a great double act. They talked about pyramids which are not commonly on the tourist agenda. These are the precursors to the pyramids of Giza and are to be found in the Fayum and at Meidum. Jan and Ian talked about the history of pyramid building and showed how the pyramids had developed over the centuries.

April 25th Annual General Meeting.

Not a bad turn out for an AGM, but then they came to hear Carole talk about a charity she supports which is based at a church in Lichfield/

March 28th Dr Thomas Beddowes

An excellent talk by Dr Watts about a fascinating polymath who was born and lived in Shifnal. He became a doctor and spent much time translating medical literature. Later he developed an interest in treating diseases by getting the patient to breathe different gases. His clinic in Bristol eventually lost business because of the introduction of aseptic tchniques which were more effective.

February 28th Acton Trussell

Again, another full house. Tony Habberley last talked to us about 4 years ago when we were very new and could only muster an audience of about 6. He brought us up to date about a Roman villa he and his team have been excavating and brought along some real Roman exhibits for us to look at.

January 31st "Ford" place names in Shropshire

The meeting was packed out, many encouraged by Mick Aston's talk in November. A fascinating talk by Mrs Laflin-Barker. Would you believe that all these place names but one actually crossed a stream? The one that didn't had a very small stream that was much bigger when the place was named. A good discussion followed trying to relate Roman roads to existing roads and the fords. One member was even encouraged to look for "ford" place names in Wales!.

WAG Meetings 2007/2008

Meetings are held at
The Conference Suite
Wolverhampton College
Paget Road
Wolverhampton

Time 7.00pm,
Entrance fee £2.00 (non-members).
Contact: Sandra on 01952 402550.

November 28th 2007, Norman - 1300 Artefacts.

Martin Latham.

December 19th 2007, WAG Christmas meal.

The Summer House.

January 30th 2008, Penn Common.

Maureen Hunt.

February 27th, Medieval villages of Staffordshire.

Professor John Hunt.

March 19th, Shetland Isles, time zone.

Keith Prosser.

April 30th, AGM.

May 21st, Churches mentioned in the Domesday Book.

George Baugh.

June 25th, Place names and landscapes.

Margaret Gelling.

July 12th (Saturday) Field Trip.

Details to be confirmed.

August 8 (Friday) Summer social.

Bowling at the Swan.

September 24th, Historic landscapes of Staffordshire.

Debbie Langley

October 29th, Project Reports.

November 26th, Landscape archaeology.

Glynn Barrett.

December 17th, WAG Christmas meal.

The Summer House.

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