In the car park of the Darnley Arms in Cobham we’ve started a couple of trenches to explore what is just beneath the surface. We’ve hit rubble and a chalk platform and found a variety of pot sherds, all probably dating from the 18th century and later. We’ve also gained a mascot. The pub cat likes to put in an appearance:
While we do all the hard work:
Find out more about the archaeological secrets of Cobham with a special event running this month.
The Heritage Lottery-funded Cobham Landscape Detectives Project is holding a Big Dig in the village for the UK-wide Festival of Archaeology.
It is being held from July 15 to 30 and will reveal more about the history and archaeology of the village.
This is the latest element in the ongoing Landscape Detectives Project, telling the story of Cobham Parish’s changing landscape from prehistory to the present day.
Part of the Festival of Archaeology, the largest celebration of archaeology in the world with hundreds of events nationwide, gives everyone the chance to learn more and meet the archaeologists and volunteers involved in the project.
During the first week, the team will be working with Cobham Primary School, as the whole school take part in a dig on their grounds.
Andrew Mayfield, Community Archaeologist for Kent County Council said: “This will be a fascinating project and a chance to unravel some of the archaeological secrets of Cobham village.
“Kent County Council is proud to be part of this prestigious event which matches its own goals to widen involvement in archaeology and put people in touch with their own heritage.”
For the full article click here to go to Kent.gov.uk
During the recent ‘heatwave’ our team still went ahead with the magnetometry of the sports field. For a video of Andrew in action click on the image below.
The main Big Village Dig project covers the weekends of the 15th/16th, 22nd/23rd and 29th/30th July. In the week of the 17th we will be working with Cobham Primary School and in the week of the 24th we will have our main community dig week in the village, across several locations!
This week the pottery finds from the Randall Manor dig have been laid out in order to compare with the stratigraphy of the site, with the aim of dating the site more securely. Thanks to Nigel for sharing his knowledge with us. Thanks also to the Kent Archaeological Society who have funded the work.
The Hollow Way has now been back filled (thanks to all who helped) and tomorrow Nigel will take a look at the pottery excavated from the dig. It should reveal a nice archaeological story relating to both trenches.
While this was going on inside the barn at Cobham, outside others were marking mainly post-medieval pottery retrieved from a Cobham dig in 1962.
