Closing without ceremony….

Nearly a week since the dig ended and doesn’t it feel strange!  But I’ve collected a few photos to help us close up ….

Saturday 2nd, in the pouring rain, Norman did 2 tours – one for Mellor Archaeological Society ……….…………and one for the Greater Manchester Archaeological Federation – (it was even wetter by then…)

Norman gave a resume of the end-of-dig archaeological findings..…this is Trench 2, with its enigmatic archaeology, full of potential for the next round,

and here is Trench 1….  ….with its roads, barrack blocks, burnt areas suggesting banks of ovens, and the no-ditch situation at the far end –

Can’t resist showing you the gyrocopter photo of Trench 6 again as it’s so spectacular, and reminding you of the amazing and mysterious structures appearing in the last week!

… here’s something you may not have seen before – it’s a piece of the wood found in the base of the post-hole dug by Marc, not the piece in the bucket that I showed you last week but an even better one –

(this photo by Sue) – – think of this, it’s the actual wood of the post that was put into a post-hole dug somewhere around AD 79 in order to make the East Gate entrance to the Agricolan Fort.

The other images I can’t resist showing you again now are these – – yes it’s the turf wall base of the Eastern rampart…… 

And here’s the 18th Century cottage, excavated by the Key Stage 2 children of Saddleworth, looking fabulous having been tidied up for its photo –

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Today – I went up to site for you,

……..to show you how it looks now….

  – Trench 2

Trench 1 – 

 …Trench 1 from the other end looking up at the ramparts

Trench 6 and the East Gate….. with a nice white marker boulder?!

 – the Via Praetoria – then looking the other way – towards the East Gate…

 – here’s the cottage of course,

and then I left, via a lovely Road! … – and here’s the site from afar, just about to have the last of its cabins taken away.

Goodbye Castleshaw, till next time.

In the next few weeks I’ll bring you some of the highlights of the dig, just to keep the memories alive!

Your faithful Bloggerina

1.8.14 – Week 4 Day 5

And so it’s the end of the dig.

Great to end though with some fabulous photos for you from Greg the Gyrocopter man…couldn’t have timed it better for going out on a high (!).  All the photos from Greg are copyrighted.

.. – here’s an unusual view from overhead – from the NW

…. Trench 6: postholes, darker marks of Bruton/Andrew/Lees trenches, the feature at the edge of the trench bottom middle, the direction of the road to the right…

….. Trench 1: the whole glorious 80 m of it, with 4 roads, a rampart, building slots and all manner of activity.

…Trench 2: watch this space for more information!

…beautiful overview of the 4 trenches.

As for today it was a busy busy time, cleaning, photographing, drawing, levelling, visitors to show round …. here’s some photos from ground level to say goodbye…

 – a complete drawing of Trench 1, expertly done under John’s tuition and held up in the wind and rain by John, Sue, Linda and Richard!

 Sonia packing up…

Adam and Vicky reviewing the situation..

.. Trench 1, so many hours of work from so many willing people, now, at the end of it all, quiet and alone.

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And finally it’s Vicky, wheeling her stuff away.  But the end quote goes to her!  She says – ‘don’t think you’re getting rid of me that easily – I’ll be back!’    A great big thank you to Vicky and her team, it was great knowing you, and yes!… please come back soon.

One day next week I’ll talk to Vicky and get her post dig ‘cogitations’ on the archaeology and also I’ll get you a folder of notable finds and notable anything else.

A HUGE AND GRATEFUL THANK YOU, from the committee, to all the volunteers who made this dig possible and who gave so much, through extremely hot to pretty wet weather, no toilets, no water, and anything else that could have got you down….. we couldn’t have done it without you!

Farewell for now, your Bloggerina