Shoot two navigation
Back outside the sun is still shining. After the initial deturfing of Trench One, further excavation reveals evidence of Victorian rubble and the outline of associated cellars. However, in the make-up of the rubble material our first pieces of Roman pottery are found at 3.00pm.
As the afternoon moves on Trench One gets bigger. It’s now a large ‘T’ shaped trench with the red brick walls of the Victorian cellar clearly defined. Simon Tomson, the local expert, explains what’s going on: ‘The modern road behind me could well be on top of an original Roman road. A row of Victorian houses were built where we’re digging now and this is a cellar from one of those houses.’
Meanwhile, Trench Two over at the supermarket has been waiting for the digger driver to turn up for the last hour. When the machine finally moves into position it starts to dig down under the watchful eyes of the Team and a large crowd of onlookers. The soil is quite fine and the trench soon produces finds varying in quality.
Throughout the afternoon Stewart Ainsworth has been coming to conclusions with his maps: ‘What I’m looking for are any clues in the modern shape of the town to how the Roman settlement may have looked. I’m also looking closely at where Roman roads may have gone out of the town to the north and south, and I’m still working on my theories’.
As for the excavation, tomorrow sees the chance to break through the Victorian archaeology and delve into the Roman past. If the finds from previous digs, together with the Roman pottery that has been contaminating the Victorian archaeology, are anything to go by, we could be on for another cracking Time Team programme. One thing’s for sure, there’s still a lot of digging to be done.
