South Yorkshire Archaeology Day (Review)

Yesterdays SYAD was yet again a brilliant event.  The venue was again the Showroom Theatre but due to the event selling out after only a few weeks, the lectures may need to be moved to a larger venue for next year.  This is excellent news as the popularity shows that history and archaeology in our area is getting more popular.

The lectures this year were all good quality and were on a wide range of subects ranging from Iron Age settlements around the local area to the Victorian steel making core of Sheffield city.


Excavation of an Iron Age to Early Medieval landscape at Pastures Road, Mexborough by Alistair Webb.
This talk was on the 2005-7 excavations and field study on this soon to be redeveloped site.  The finds included Mesolithic flints, a beehive quern, round house, tracks and a field system with multi period use.  There was also evidence of an Anglo-Saxon burial although due to the acidity of the soil no skeleton was recovered, there may be more on-site and further work may find these.


O'er Hill and Down Dale by Adrian Chadwick.
This talk was a reinterpretation of past studies of field systems in the South Yorkshire area and grouping past reports together to help interpret a wider picture of what life was like in this area in the early part of the first millennium. He described the damage done at Sutton Common when half the site was bull-dozed by the farmer and how opportunities were missed on the excavation and what possibilities of future work could reveal. He also described how the brickwork field systems had been modified over many centuries and how the later Roman roads didn't respect the field boundaries.


The Medieval Archaeology of Low Fishergate, Doncaster by Jane McCormish.
This lecture centres on a multi-period reuse of a site which was originally to the immediate south of the river Don.  it focused on how industry on the site had changed over time with the silting up of the river as its path had slowly moved northwards.  The early industries seem to have been focused on ship building or repairs which slowly through time had transgressed through to an iron works which possibly burnt down and was replaced by leather works and a rubbish tip!    There was plenty of evidence of medieval boats which had been reused as a wall against the riverbank as well as evidence of the Don flooding on at least two occasions.

Investingating an Industrial Archaeological site at Nursery Street, Sheffield by Neil Dransfield.

With the current flood defence plan for the river Don to prevent another flooding of 2007 proportions several areas of previous land use are being removed to allow small flood plains for water catchment.  part of the old steelworks and public house on Nursery Street are to be removed and the land scalloped with the remains of the furnace to be reburied for future generations.

Excavations at Rotherham Minster by Deborah Moretti
With part of the minster grounds being re-landscaped for easier access excavations took place where 60 burials were discovered from the 19th century (42 adults/11 infants/7 children) Several of the bodies had been badly damaged by later grave cuts which had been placed in the same plots. Finds from the corner were a Henry II short cross penny, an area of cobbles and several worked flints.  Evidence of wooden graves and shroud burials were found as well as buttons marble bottle tops and clay pipes.


Work In Progress: Re-evaluating the Archaeology of Conisbrough Castle by Kevin Booth
With the current re-evaluation of Conisbrough Castle via the Lottery fund English Heritage had planned on using the past excavations on site to help draw up a plan for future works.  This has been severely hampered by the Ministry of Work's lack of care in the 1940's and 50's and failure to keep accurate records and lack of reports from most of the 25 excavations carried out by the MoW and other parties. Finds from the site were not recorded accurately as to show there location (a central part of a horse curry comb, metal rim from a purse and a mirror case).  EH have also looked at the design of the castle and its unusual layout which is only comparable with Orford, Suffolk. English Heritage are planning some excavations in the near future (possibly 2011)


The Bolsterstone Castle Project by Wendy Goodhind and Tim Cockrell
This was a fascinating update from the group who initially set out to find if there was a castle at Bolsterstone.  There task was hard with the only evidence being a pub name and an old map marking the site.  The group managed to get a grant and assistance from the University of Sheffield to start an excavation on the football field in 2006, they managed to locate a stone wall with steps which led to further work in 2007.  This located a bread oven but no castle.  In 2008/9 the group excavated a smithy and in 2010 field walked the land on Bank Farm locating metal and ceramics.  The groups future plans include a wide scale test pitting in the village in an attempt to locate earlier settlement.


Excavations at Monk Bretton Priory by Hugh Willmott and Pete Townend
The priory at Monk Bretton was heavily rebuilt during the 1920's removing parts of the old medieval house and further work during the 1950's by the MoW saw the 'cleaning' up of the site with no regard for its post monastic heritage.  Geophysics on the site located two areas of interest for locating a Tudor Manor comparable with Worksop or other contemporary sites. one of the results showed a building range which when excavated showed three phases of occupation which appears to have been used for some industrial process possibly relating to the priory and also a stone encased drainage ditch with two phases of use.  Lots of lead and copper alloy were recovered from smelting.  Tudor glass was also recovered from the site.