News - Nine homes for Roman remains site (Southwell)

Nine luxury, three-storey homes could be built on a site in Southwell believed to contain Roman remains of national importance. 

 

New plans for the Church Street site, which contains the remains of a Roman villa and a Saxon burial ground, have been submitted to Newark and Sherwood District Council.

It comes more than a year after previous plans for 29 homes, including apartments, were rejected on the grounds they were unsuitable for a site next to the minster and in the town’s conservation area.

The new application shows large homes, most with five bedrooms, and each with a garage. There appears to be no lower-cost housing included.

It said: “The site is sustainably located in Southwell and will enable the redundant Minster School land to be brought into an appropriate alternative use, delivering high-quality housing and positively contributing to and reinforcing the historic character of the area.”

Heritage groups in Southwell have been vehemently opposed to any kind of development on the site and wish to see it preserved as a heritage park.

They have submitted plans for a heritage park to the district council.

Mr Mike Kirton, on behalf of Southwell Heritage Park Campaign, said: “Our views are shared by the 3,000-plus people who signed the petition in 2011.

“The report from the archaeological survey has reinforced our views that this site should be saved from development and become a heritage park.

“This is one of the most important historical sites in the county and we have urged English Heritage to re-appraise the area covered by the Scheduled Ancient Monument.

“We hope the district council will take the new evidence into account when considering this latest application for nine substantial properties.”

The plans will also be considered by Southwell Town Council and Southwell Civic Society.

The chairman of the civic society, Mr Brendan Haigh, said: “This application has just come in and we giving urgent consideration to it.” 

 

From:  http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/news/Nine-homes-for-Roman-remains-site

News - University's award-winning museum moves into new home (Nottingham)

The University of Nottingham’s award-winning museum has moved into a purpose-built building.

The museum — named Nottinghamshire Heritage Museum of the Year in 2010 — is now conveniently based in the Rotunda at the Lakeside Arts Centre, near Lakeside Theatre, the revamped Djanogly Art Gallery and Gallery café, the boating lake and the children’s play area.

The museum contains artefacts dating back 250, 000 years to the Palaeolithic period. The majority of objects are from the East Midlands and show everyday life in the region over this long period of time. It is open to the public and along with displays of local archaeological material contains objects from Italy, Egypt and Cyprus. The exhibits include Palaeolithic hand axes, Bronze Age swords, Roman glass, Saxon jewellery and medieval tiles.

The Museum was opened in 1933 to house a major collection of artefacts donated to the University from a large excavation on the site of the Roman settlement, Margidunum, on the Fosse Way at Bingham in Nottinghamshire. The finds from the excavation include pottery, foodstuffs, bone gaming counters, surgical instruments and jewellery.

Museum Keeper Clare Pickersgill said: “I am so happy that we have moved to a new home as it allows us to be easily accessible to everyone, especially as the museum is now open seven days a week.

“The move is the first stage of the new museum development. We’re planning a new permanent exhibition that will include collections from around the region not currently on display as well as bringing in objects from the British Museum.”

The museum runs an extensive education and community programme with schools, colleges and community groups and plays a major part in a number of national initiatives, including the successful and popular BBC Hands on Prehistory Day and the Festival of British Archaeology.

A mobile exhibition: In Search of Margidunum — a museum in a trunk — has been created. It is based on artefacts found at the Roman settlement of Margidunum, which was centred on what is now the A46 roundabout near Bingham. It is taken into local schools and community groups by University students, allowing pupils to explore how ordinary Romans lived their lives — from the clothes and hairstyles they wore to the coins they used to do their shopping.

The University of Nottingham Museum is based at University Park, via South entrance off University Boulevard. It is open to the public from 11am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday and noon till 4pm, Sunday. Admission is free. Visit www.nottingham.ac.uk/museum for more information.

 

From: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/pressreleases/2011/december/universitymuseummovestonewhome.aspx

News - New tour of Nottingham set to launch

THE promotional material for David Cross's new Heroes and Villains of Nottingham tour asks a somewhat provocative question: Was Robin Hood gay?

The on-a-postcard answer: er, no.

But the reality of the time was a bit more sexually diverse than later history re-writers, like those priggish Victorians, may have liked to admit.

"That (question) was very tongue-in-cheek," Mr Cross said. "There's absolutely no evidence. But Richard the Lionheart absolutely was, as were many other historical characters."

That said, Mr Cross expects that at some point in the near future, Hollywood will try a Robin Hood tale that uses sexuality as a plot point.

"They've kind of run out of things to say about Robin Hood," he said.

That is not a problem shared by Mr Cross. He's always had a passion for history. Nearly two decades ago, he began translating that passion into something fun – history-laden "ghost tours" of Nottingham.

"We've been doing the Nottingham Ghost Walk since 1993," he said. "I've always wanted to develop a new tour alongside the ghost walk and now that I'm semi-retired, I've got the time to do it."

The new tour took eight or nine months to develop but if the ghost tours are any example, it will be an ever-evolving work in progress.

Storytelling, he finds, is an odd beast. An idea that sounds great on paper can fall flat, while a story thrown into a tour at the last minute can become a winner. One thing he has learned is that you can research a story, write it out, practise it and have it down perfectly, but until you try it out in front of a group of expectant faces, you won't know how it's going to go down.

The new tour won't revolve simply around Robin Hood and that well-known cast of characters from his stories, though they'll loom large.

The tour will start near the castle, wind past Old Market Square to the Lace Market and then double back just about to where it started. Those, Mr Cross said, were the necessary locales to explain a city that developed from a Saxon enclave near what is now the Lace Market and a Norman stronghold near the castle.

While he's at it, Mr Cross will also take the opportunity to take his guests through other eras in Nottingham history. Characters such as Lord Byron will also make appearances. Even more modern heroes, such as DH Lawrence and Torvill and Dean, will warrant a mention.

"There's a lot more walking than in the ghost walk," Mr Cross said.

And during all that walking, he won't shy away from the difficult queries.

"The big question that everybody has is 'Did Robin Hood exist?' And that's a very complicated question to answer."

Modern Robin – the Hollywood Robin who married Marian at the oak and got misty-eyed while reminiscing about Nottingham Castle – no, of course he didn't exist.

But what about the guy from the medieval ballads? "The consensus is probably not."

Still, though, it's a good yarn. Particularly the way Mr Cross tells it.

For more information, visit toursofnottingham.co.uk or phone 07850 145642.

From: ThisisNottingham website

News - Third haul for treasure hunter (Newark)

Treasure-trove hunter Mr Maurice Richardson has unearthed his third haul.

 

Mr Richardson found a cache of Bronze Age tools buried in a field eight miles from Newark.

He found them by accidentally wandering off a track while completely immersed searching with his metal detector.

Mr Richardson, who lives in Newark, made the find while examining a field owned by a farmer he met through his tree surgery business.

The cache includes several well-preserved socket axe handles, chisels, a spear head, broken sections of swords, and unmoulded clumps of bronze.

It is believed they once belonged to a Bronze Age blacksmith with a travelling foundry who would have toured from settlement to settlement forging weapons and tools and collecting broken ones to be re-smelt into serviceable replacements.

Bronze was worth as much as gold is today and was also very heavy so smithies, fearing they could be robbed, would bury stashes near recognisable markers along their well-travelled routes and dig them up when passing by.

Mr Richardson believes this cache remained in the ground because something happened to alter the landscape between the blacksmith’s visits or, that he died before retrieving them.

“Three thousand years ago bronze would have been difficult to obtain. The tin could only come from the mines in Cornwall and the copper from Ireland,” said Mr Richardson.

“This represents the first step up from the use of flints. It was the first use of metals. Some of these items are incredible and very well preserved.

“I only found them after I wandered off the path. My head was down concentrating and then the detector went off. It was a complete accident.

“I have no idea what they are worth or whether they hold any value more than their historical worth.”

Mr Richardson sent the find to the Portable Antiques Scheme. It will then go on to the British Museum to be assessed, dated and valued.

In addition to the Bronze Age items, he found Roman brooches and around 70 coins dating from 40-48BC as well as floor tiles from a Roman villa known to have been built on the site.

If the cache is declared treasure trove, Mr Richardson will split half of its worth with the landowner and the pieces will likely be exhibited locally or nationally.

An earlier find by Mr Richardson, a 2,100-year-old torc valued at £350,000, is exhibited in the British Museum.

He also found 200 pieces of medieval, Saxon and Roman pieces in a field two miles from Newark last year.

 

From: http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/news/Third-haul-for-treasure-hunter

 

New project to research history of our churches (Hucknall)

A SMALL team has begun the challenging task of researching the history of Hucknall’s Anglican churches.



The members have been recruited by Professor John Beckett, of Nottingham University. The ultimate aim of the project is for details of all churches in the Southwell and Nottingham Diocese to be included on the diocesan website, freely available to interested researchers and tourists.


Hucknall’s local historian Maureen Newton, who has been appointed as team leader, said: “This is a pioneering project because, so far, no-one has really worked on the churches in Hucknall.


“We are looking at the history of the buildings, any alterations, stained-glass windows, monuments, bells, organs, fonts and gravestones or, in fact, anything that might be of interest.


“We will be taking photographs and notes of anything we deem is important evidence around and inside the buildings. So if you see any of us crawling, climbing or wandering round your church like lost sheep, please come and have a chat since you might know of something we are unlikely to find.


“We are starting with the newest, St Peter and St Paul’s Church on Ruffs Drive, and we will also take in the former St Peter’s, which hsd been converted into Watnall Road Community Centre.


“We will next deal with St John’s Church, which has played an integral part in the life of the Butlers Hill community for many years. Of course, there is also the parish church on the Market Place, which is dedicated to St Mary Magdalene.


“The parish church is obviously world-famous as the last resting place of the poet Lord Byron but there is much more to it than that.”


The church is grade-two listed by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and has been described by many experts as a “particularly significant building of more than local interest”.


The church was built on the site of an old Saxon church and the tower, which stands high above the town, was built in stages between the 12th and 14th centuries.


The Lady Chapel has been praised as a “beautiful example of 19th-century craftsmanship” and the Victorian baptistry, which used to contain the 14th-century font, has now been converted into a popular visitor-centre.


The parish church is also notable for having the largest collection of stained-glass windows by Charles Eamer Kempe, a key figure in 19th-century decorative art, of any building in the country.


Anyone able to help with the survey is asked to contact Maureen by writing to her at 64 Bestwood Road, Hucknall, Nottingham, NG15 7PQ or by phoning her on 0115 9631705.


“We would appreciate any information anyone is able to offer about any of these churches,” said Maureen.


“For instance, there is not a lot of documentary evidence about the old St Peter’s Church, so any details about its history would be gratefully received.”#


From: http://www.hucknalldispatch.co.uk/news/local-news/new_project_to_research_history_of_our_churches_1_2920287

Trent Vale Archaeology Blog

As part of the Community Archaeology project on the river Trent the Trent Vale Landscape Partnership runs a blog with regular updates on their projects of this historic landscape which still has remains from prehistory to medieval and beyond.  Their latest blog covers the work done around Knaith the other weekend, the new mosaics at Gainsborough and recent work at Littleborough:

The latest instalment is available at: http://trentvale.wordpress.com/