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So what’s the news from the trenches? Trench Three has posed some interesting problems for the team. It’s actually situated on the town football field and we’ve been given permission to excavate the hallowed turf. To try and minimise the destruction an auger survey is also being carried out. The tiny bore holes shouldn’t change the trajectory of a match-winning penalty shot too much.
Over at Trench One the work is steaming ahead. The mechanical excavator is extending the trench even further, and as planned the diggers have broken through the Victorian layers and have started investigating some tasty Roman archaeology. Veteran Time Team digger Katie Hirst gives Onsite the scoop: ‘We’re extending the trench so that we can see more Roman stratigraphy. We’ve got Roman walls coming across the trench, so we have finally cleared the Victorian material. We’re starting to get some fantastic finds here.’
A very exciting feature has also been found in Trench One and it’s going to look great when you can see it on the programme. Sorry, but that’s all we can say.
Meanwhile over at Trench Two: ‘It’s the morning of day three and we’re running out of time,’ says Tony. The trench supervisor, Jenni Butterworth, is forging ahead at a serious pace. ‘Today we’re going big,’ says Jenni with a smile as the mechanical excavator starts to break up the car park for a trench extension.
The atmosphere within the Team is one of excitement, concentration and intensity. The excavation is revealing some fantastic material and the filming side of things is on schedule.
How about Roman roads in the modern town plan?
‘Roman roads were quite serious constructions and they’re not easily lost. Even minor ones often end up as farm tracks or something like that. In the case of this town the roads may well have still been in use even if people were not settling here. You just need to identify the tell-tale signs. It’s amazing what you can actually read from a modern map.’ With that Stewart gave his usual smile and headed off, map in hand, to check out another quirky road or dark alley.
To close our reporting from Shoot Two, Onsite had a chat with Mick Aston to find out how he was getting on: ‘Things are alright, I think,’ says Mick, ‘The sabbatical from Bristol University is working out and I’m getting into it. The old Foot and Mouth has caused a bit of a problem with finding sites we can use for Time Team, but generally we're doing alright.’
How about this shoot?
‘This programme has been a good one to do. With a Roman fort you have an awful lot of finds and stratigraphy so you have to ask yourself how far can you get in three days. Having said that, we have a lot of previous work to draw on and finding those Victorian cellars allowed us to drop to a level that would have taken weeks of excavation to achieve. The gap in occupation is an interesting factor. It appears that nobody lived here after the Roman period and I find that a little bit hard to follow. The thing is medieval records from this area are scarce and that adds to the intrigue. It’s going to be a good one.’
