Annual Fundraiser Guest Lecture: Analysis of human remains from archaeological sites
Time Team and Wessex Archaeology osteologist Jacqueline McKinley will present this year’s lecture at St Margaret’s Hall, Bradford on Avon on Wednesday 22nd November. She is one of the leading experts in this country on osteoarchaeology, the study of human remains and on burial rites, with experience in the field dating back to 1977.
The bar opens at 7.00 pm and the talk...
Read MoreNew Museum book: Rowley-Wittenham
The deserted village of Rowley is now represented by earthworks just to the south of the modern village of Westwood. It and another adjacent manor called Wittenham became depopulated during the late medieval and Tudor periods and eventually, in 1882, the land was transferred from the Hundred of Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire to the parish of Farleigh Hungerford in Somerset.
In...
Read MoreArchaeological work at Holt and at Belcombe Court, Bradford on Avon
Home Croft, Holt
Members of the Museum’s Research Group, led by Rob Arkell, have been carrying out investigations at two local sites over the last year.
Earthworks in Home Croft, the field just over the southern fence of the Courts Garden in Holt, suggested the site of early village houses and perhaps the original Manor House. We have carried out...
Read MoreNew acquisition: a Roman silver signet ring
The Museum has added to its collection of Roman objects with the acquisition of a Roman finger ring, made of silver and still having its ‘jewel’ of opaque blue glass that has been engraved with a genius figure. It is a fairly hefty thing, weighing 18g, and probably belonged to a man -a piece of Roman bling! It was found in Broughton Gifford by a metal detectorist, declared as...
Read MoreThe Museum is closed, but it is still active …
Although Bradford on Avon Museum itself has been closed by the Covid-19 pandemic since mid-March, there is still some activity going on in the background. The Museum has recently acquired a set of Frobisher Resistivity Meter equipment for carrying out non-invasive archaeological exploration by using geophysics. A grant from the Bradford Area Board of Wiltshire Council helped us buy it....
Read MoreBudbury Hillfort video
This video relates to archaeological research carried out by the Museum Research Group of Bradford on Avon Museum. It explains how our understanding of the layout of the Budbury hillfort has developed and is linked to a report on the archaeology of Budbury published in Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine for 2019. The Museum is grateful to the Marc Fitch Fund for...
Read MoreNew acquisition- a medieval lion
Bradford on Avon Museum, Wiltshire .
Despite being surrounded by medieval buildings, Bradford on Avon Museum is a little short on medieval objects. So, we are delighted to have received a small stone carving of a lion from early in the period. He was carved out of fine oolitic limestone and has been dated to the 13th/14th centuries- confirmed...
Read MoreDiscussion Group: The Work of the Museum Research Group
Wednesday 6th September, 7:30pm, Library Meeting Room
Come along to September’s Discussion Group to find out more about our Museum Research Group. In this session, led by Roy Canham, we will be discussing the work of the MRG – what they’ve been up to so far, and what they might research in future.
Discussion Group...
Read MoreRoman painted plaster returns to Bradford
. When a Roman bath complex was excavated in Bradford in 1976, many jumbled pieces of painted plaster were collected. They would have fallen from the interior as the walls became ruined. They were put into Wiltshire County Council’s store along with other finds from the dig.
In 2004 volunteers from the Bradford on Avon...
Read MoreNew for the collection: A Roman Finger Ring
. This ring turned up in a garden in Bradford on Avon and initially was thought to be a piece of relatively recent costume jewellery. However, seeing a similar one on display in Salisbury Museum and from subsequent research, it appears to be of Roman date. Pieces of Roman pottery and a coin have been found in the garden before. The site lies below the Iron Age hillfort of Budbury, where a...
Read MoreNew to the Museum: Roman brooch
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Bradford on Avon Museum, Wiltshire
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A recent addition to the Museum’s small collection of Roman items is this bow brooch (fibula in Latin) that was found in a field near the Ashley Road, close to Bradford’s St...
Read MoreDiscussion Group: A review of this year’s Community Digs
Wednesday 5th November, 7:30pm in the Library Meeting Room
The next meeting of the Museum Discussion Group will be held on Wednesday 3rd December at 7:30pm in the Library Meeting Room, where Roy Canham will be examining the results of both Community Digs (April and August) and considering future action.
These Museum Discussion Group sessions are FREE to...
Read MoreCommunity Dig Photos – 16th August 2014
There was lots of interest at the Community Dig on Saturday 16th August.
Click the images below to see larger versions of the photos.
... Read MoreAugust Community Dig – update on trenches
Here is the plan for the position of trenches for our August 2014 Community Dig.
In Victory Field, trench 1 will examine the eastern part of the bank which we excavated on the tithe barn side of the wall. Geophysics in this area adjacent to the wall is a little mystifying, showing an area blank of masonry, but...
Read MoreApril 2014 Community Dig Results
The excavation in April 2014 was based on the results of a geophysical survey carried out by Sophie Hawke and colleagues from Bath & Camerton Archaeological Society.
A feature of interest was the alignment of stone or masonry parallel to the wall forming the eastern boundary of Rick Field. This wall is visible on an early 18th century map and is clearly part of the layout of Barton...
Read MoreWhy dig up Bradford?
In our last Newsletter we looked at some of the results of our first dig, located to the east of the Tithe Barn. We are planning more work starting Monday 11th August in the same area, and also in adjacent Victory Field if we can get permission. A good moment perhaps to discuss why we want to dig at all!
Early Bradford is a...
Read MoreThe Community Dig
Monday 11th – Sunday 24th August, Hen Field and Victory Field
The defensive bank showing both side of field boundary wall (click the image to see a larger version)
We are off again! Our dig in April produced a surprising result. A slight bank on the edge of the paddock east of the tithe barn...
Read MoreCommunity Dig – Day 7 – Some might say…
That’s it, a whole week done. My, how time flies when you’re shovelling clay! I’ve been on my own in Trench 1 for most of the day, but we’ve had lots of help from other volunteers in Trenches 2 and 3. Also, a test pit in Hen’s Orchard, which produced Medieval pottery.
Trench 3 (right side by the wall) is being explored to see if what lies below the stone spread is the sandy...
Read MoreCommunity Dig – Day 6 – Julia’s gone potty
It was a little quieter on site today, as four in the morning turned into the Triumvirate of myself, Julia and of course, ‘The Boss’, Roy after lunch.
We’ve made good progress today. I’ve hacked out most of Trench 1 down to nearly 5 feet at the top end and at over 2 metres in length that was a lot of mattocking! The blisters on my hands now have blisters of their own and the...
Read MoreCommunity Dig – Day 5 – Looking for a date?
Well I’m pleased to announce that Trench 1 has redeemed itself. It’s an effort now to get in and out of our trench and by first tea break the only signs of life were the frequent shovels of soil coming from seemingly nowhere into our buckets on the topside of the trench.
Julia had a very frustrating morning; she thought she had hit the natural. It was just like being at the beach...
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