Much better day today. Weather held until the very end which we were very glad for.
Today we surveyed a field (named Bull Field on the estate map) on an area between Calton Cottage and Ravensheugh House. No bulls though, just two lovely horses belonging to Ravensheugh. A large area close to Calton Cottage was the site of the former Philiphaugh Farm, the ruins of which were demolished about 10 years ago. Unfortunately the site and and area just beside it had been covered in topsoil and another patch modified for flood protection. The latter would have been an interesting place to investigate as musket balls had been found in there previously.
The field was relatively flat and looked to be the base of a former river bed or paleochannel with steep river banks on one side. In fact it would be the perfect place to have a firing range or practice site behind the old farm with the bank acting as a butt to capture the bullets or musket balls. Sites like these have been found across Scotland and with a very similar geography. Always important to keep these things in mind if we were to come across significant quantaties of projectiles.
The field did not appear to have been ploughed recently and may have remained as a pasture for many years, hence the name Bull's Field. We did get some interesting finds, including a pistol ball and a piece of buckshot or hailshot. We also found a handful of late 17th - 18th century coins, a few buttons and a couple of buckles. The last find of the day, made by Elizabeth Simm, was a small blade which may be a knife or razor. Very interesting artefact, well done! Another interesting find was an ornate copper alloy walking cane end, which was identified by Ian Brown. Not a bad day at all and much better than expected.
Tomorrow we will be heading back onto the valley floor and into a small paddock just beside the Cricket ground which we were kindly given permisson to invesigate. Hopefully this will be quite an interesting area as it is adjacent to the field containing the Scheduled Area and just beside it are the remnants of a field bank which must have at some point connected to the bank and ditch on the other side of the criket and football ground. I was told that a cannon ball and buckle were found in gardens close by. Ever hopeful!
We had a visit from two War Studies students from the University today. Joanne and Tom are also doing a couple of battlefield archaeology modules with us, so came out to see how it all works in the field. I got them to work straight away digging and recording some finds. Thanks guys!
All the best,
Tasha
 |
| Involving all members of the community - including the horses! |
 |
| Tom, Joanne (Uni of Glasgow) and Elizabeth with a horseshoe |
No comments:
Post a Comment