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Archaeology in Marlowwww.archaeologyinmarlow.org.uk

Volume 17 Issue No: 5 October 2018

AiM’s Forthcoming Events

NEWSLETTER

Thursday 18th October 8pm

‘Wycombe Museum in the 21st Century’ - A talk by Keith Spencerin the Garden Room, Liston Hall, Chapel Street, Marlow SL7 1DD

Museums have undergone a great deal of change in recent years and WycombeMuseum is therefore subject to many changes and pressures which directlyaffect the day-to-day operations. Museum volunteer Keith Spencer will describehow the museum is coping with life in the 21st Century and the mechanics ofrunning a museum that needs to be self-sustainable. Keith will also describe howthe museum operates and explain what is involved in setting up an exhibition.

This is an AiM talk

Members of AIM and MAS £3.00, visitors £4.50

There is Free Parking in the adjacent car park after 7pm

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AiM’s Events at a Glance

Thursday 8th November 8pm

‘Buckinghamshire's Saxon Prince: the burial at Taplow’ in the Main Hall, Liston Hall, ChapelStreet, Marlow SL7 1DD

A talk by Leslie Webster – former Keeper Dept. of Prehistory & Europe, British Museum. TheTaplow burial mound, excavated in 1883, contains a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon burial in thechurchyard at Taplow Court. The princely burial, which dates to c.AD 620, contained a rich andvaried collection of grave goods, now in the British Museum, similar in quality and date tothose at Sutton Hoo.

This is a joint talk with AiM organised by MAS

Members of AIM and MAS £3, visitors £4.50

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Thursday 13th December at 8pm

AIM’s traditional Christmas Quiz, with festive snacks and drinks and our amazing raffle.

8pm in the Garden Room of Liston Hall

Entry for members and non-members £1.00

*Liston Hall’s full address is:Chapel Street, Marlow, SL7 1DD.

Free parking is available in the adjacentcar park after 7 pm.

Hunt’s of Marlow

For First ClassDIY, Hardware andGarden Supplies

35 Station Road, MarlowTel 01628 488228

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The Boxford MosaicDr Steve Clark

20th September 2018

Our speaker, Dr Steve Clark has been helpingto organise the Boxford Roman project onbehalf of the Berkshire Archaeology Re-search Group (BARG) together with his col-league Lindsey Bedford. He explained thatthe project was made up of a partnership ofthree groups, BARG, Boxford History Projectand Cotswold Archaeology, which was set upwith the aid of the Heritage Lottery Fund toinvestigate three Roman sites which hadbeen known about since the late 19th cen-tury, north-west of Newbury. These areHoar Hill, Wyfield Manor Farm and MudHole. All the sites had limited time availabil-ity as they were in arable fields. Some gradi-

ometer surveys and excavations had beencarried out previously. A grant bid was put infor a 3 year project, commencing with HoarHill in 2015, Wyfield Manor Farm in 2016and Mud Hole in 2017. So in 2015 they re-turned to Hoar Hill villa with a better resis-tivity of 0.5m sample intervals. There ap-peared to be 4 phases of building here. Theyfound painted wall panels, similar to Wroxe-ter and Trench 12 revealed a detached bathhouse.

Wyfield Manor Farm had been investigatedover the years; in 1898 ‘Roman remainsfound’ was marked on an OS map of the fol-lowing year. In 1906 and 1963 fragments

were reported and in 1976 fieldwalking byJulian Richards found pottery. In the 2010smetal detecting finds include 8 Roman coins.The resistivity survey was not very informa-tive, but they mapped the surface findswhich showed a general spread, nothingspecific.

They found cut features Mid/late Iron Ageand early roman pottery, post holes andditches and pits with burning, possibly a Ro-man building. Trench 2 uncovered a seriesof small Roman ovens, post holes and a pos-sible drip gulley. A corn drier was discoveredwhich Steve explained had evidence ofmalting for beer but could have had multi-ple uses including drying grain and parchingspelt wheat. Steve’s slides showed the de-velopment of the boundary and field sys-tems.

700m south of Wyfield Manor is Mud Hole,c1870 a villa was found during drainageworks, in 1878 – ‘site of villa’ was markedon the 1st edition OS map. In 1963 a surface

scatter was noted and from the 1980s on-wards metal detecting finds include at leastone anvil. The geophysics found 2 buildings,one large and one small and a mystery fea-ture. They put a trench across one end of themystery feature which was possibly a Romansunken featured building.

Another trench in the smaller of the 2 stonebuildings produced a very small copperbracelet. One day there were children on thesite and they were tasked with brushingtrench 4 and one child spotted a foot print ofa hob-nailed boot on a tile. The excavationfound coins tightly packed in date between330AD and 375AD. The next slide Steve

Photo courtesy of Richard Miller

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The Boxford Mosaic (cont)

showed us was of Matt from Cotswold Ar-chaeology, finding the mosaic! Mosaic ex-perts were invited to the site and AnthonyBeeson ARA said it was the most excitingmosaic found in the last 50 years, it was rareto find a figurative mosaic and rare to findone with an inscription. Steve then went onto show photos of the various figures in themosaic and explained some of them, Hercu-les attacking a centaur, a figure of Bel-lerophon, a figure of Pegasus, fire breathingchimaera, (lion and goats heads), figures ofTelamones. Needless to say they had goodcoverage globally, once the Newbury Weekly

News had broken the story.

They are hoping to go back next year to un-cover the other half of the mosaic and havestarted fundraising to do this.

The Web site iswww.boxford.org.uk/category/big-dig-2015

Thanks to Steve for a wealth of detailed andfascinating information on this project andwe wish him well for the fundraising.

Ann Pitwell

Picture courtesy of Cotswold Archaeology

Marlow Market & Tony’s Grill Bar

Dean Street Car Park, Marlow

A small friendly market offering large quantities of English and Foreign fruits andvegetables, along with fresh eggs, with discounts for bulk orders. Every Wednesday,8.00am - 3.00pm

Fresh fish from Grimsby. Every Wednesday, 8.00am - 12.00 noon The best kebabs, burgers and chicken in the UK. Every evening, 5pm - 12 midnight

(2 am Fridays and Saturdays)

All enquiries - Peter Smith 07789-713099

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The Town Regatta was one of the most popular events of the year. Ulti-mately it moved to the Olympic Course at Dorney, where it still success-

fully precedes the Henley Regatta.

What is the earliest recorded date for this event in Great Marlow?

Answer:The Regatta Committee has a poster and a prize presentation oar dated 16th

of August 1855. This is believed to be the earliest record for the event.

Tom Walsh gave the first correct answer andwon two tickets to any AIM talk!

August’s Quiz Question and Answer

The decaying ‘Gout Road’ Obelisk, at the top of Marlow High Street, hasbeen renovated and recut.

1. In Toll Road times, what was the nearest town listed on the distance post?

2. What was the longest one-way route listed on this route?

Prize for the AIM member with the first correct answers:Two tickets to any AIM talk. Email or phone your answer to Ann Pitwell

(see back page for contact details).

October’s Quiz Question

Saddle SafariCYCLE SALES & SERVICE

9 Dean Street, Marlow,Bucks, SL7 3AA.Tel. 01628 477020

www.saddlesafari.co.uk

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Warren Wood UpdateThe weather continues to be very harsh on us. It may have been one of the hottest summers on re-cord but it has been the worst season we’ve had at Warren Wood – it seems to rain every otherSunday, coinciding with our visits. We’ve only had two successful sessions during August and Sep-tember, plus one other session where rain stopped play after an hour.

We have continued excavating Trench 13 in the inner enclosure and still hope to complete thistrench this season. We will therefore continue during October – probably on 7th and 21st of themonth. If necessary, we may also visit the site on a weekday, as we need to get the trench finishedand I don’t want us to be still digging in November. The October dates will be confirmed in an emailto members – and this may already have been sent. All our excavation visits on Sunday morningsare between 10am and 1pm and if you would like to join us, pleased let me know – using my contactdetails on page 8.

Martin Fowkes (Field Work Co-ordinator)

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Other Events of interestOther Organisations’Events and Resources

Buckinghamshire Archaeological Society - ActiveArchaeology GroupTuesday 16 October 2018 7.30pmArchaeology from maps: A practical session ledby Sandy Kidd of Historic EnglandBucks County Museum,Church Street, Aylesbury, HP20 2QPhttp://www.bucksas.org.uk/aag.htmlbucksasaag@gmail.com

Hedgerley Historical SocietyWednesday 17 October 8pm‘Bucks Archaeological Sites from the Air’A talk by Mike FarleyHedgerley Memorial Hall Kiln Lane Hedgerley SL23UZ01753 647187 or jdlovelock@btinternet.com

Berkshire Archaeological SocietySaturday 20 October 2.00 pm for 2.30 pm‘Anglo Saxon Wars and Fortifications’A talk by Prof. Jim StorrThe RISC Centre, London Street,Reading, RG1 4PS. 01189 586692

Marlow SocietyTuesday 30 October 8 pm‘George Holt Thomas: The Man Who Created theWorld's Largest Aircraft Manufacturing Organisa-tion’ A Talk by David ScottMain Hall, Liston Hall, Marlow SL7 1DD£2.50 members, £4 non-members 01628 476610http://www.marlowsociety.org.uk/events/

Marlow Remembers WW1 AssociationMonday 19th November 8.00pmFinal SessionGarden Room, Liston Hall , Marlow SL7 1DD

Other Events of interestThis is the information available to us at the time of publication,but we advise you to check as this may have changed since then.

Marlow Society members £2.50, non-members£4.00http://marlowww1.org.uk/events-and-activities/forthcoming-events/

Buckinghamshire Archaeological Society - ActiveArchaeology GroupTuesday 20 November 2018 7.30pm‘Four thousand years of lathe-turning inarchaeology’ A talk by Stuart KingBucks County Museum,Church Street, Aylesbury, HP20 2QPhttp://www.bucksas.org.uk/aag.htmlbucksasaag@gmail.com

SOAG (South Oxfordshire Archaeological Group)Thursday 22 November 7.30pm'Excavations on the 17th century warship, theLondon'Lecture by Michael Walsh (Cotswold Archae-ology)Goring Heath Parish Hall, Whitchurch Hill, RG8 7NYFree, donations accepted.events@soagarch.org.uk

Marlow MuseumSaturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays 1-5pm,Wednesdays 2-5pm.Nov – Feb Sundays 2 – 4pm‘Marlow Then & Now’ is the current exhibitionIn the exhibition there are many old photos sup-plied by Michael Eagleton and others, includingMyMarlow. Accompanying this isa booklet available to purchase.Peacock Room, Court Garden Leisure CentreHigginson Park, Pound Lane, Marlow SL7 2AEFree entry, donations welcomewww.marlowmuseum.org

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AiM Committee MeetingsFuture AiM Committee Meetings

7.30pm Wednesday the 3rd of October at 3 Penington Rd, Beaconsfield, HP9 1ET7.30pm Tuesday the 13th of November at 88 Blind Lane, Bourne End

All members are welcome to attend all AiM meetings.

Please telephone a committee member in advance to confirm date and venue.

AiM Committee Members

Chairman Martin Fowkes88 Blind Lane, Bourne End, SL8 5LD01628 530832 - m88fowkes@gmail.com

Treasurer Ann Pitwell9 Spinfield Lane, Marlow, SL7 2JT01628 481792 - annpitwell@thamesinternet.com

Vice-Chairman John Laker9 Spinfield Lane, Marlow, SL7 2JT01628 481792 - johnlaker@thamesinternet.com

Membership Secretary Nicky Penderedc/o 9 Spinfield Lane, Marlow, SL7 2JT

Newsletter Compiler Jessica SmallSkeletal Biology Research Centre, University of KentCT2 7NR jfs25@kent.ac.uk

Field Work Co-ordinator Vacant

Committee Members01494 675195 - jabirkett@btinternet.com Tony Birkett01494 533669 - nicktillyer@yahoo.co.uk Beverley Howard

AiM

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP RATES £10.00 Individual (over 18)

£12.00 Household Membership (one adult and any children under 18 living at thesame address)

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