Olivers Mound Dig: Day 11

Well, today was the last day and all digging was completed and all that was left was the sad and backbreaking task of backfilling the trenches . Valerie made it to site today and Rod gave a talk on the history of the site and I hope to answer many of the burning questions (ie, Why did they build a castle there? Was it a castle or a manor house? When was it built? Who lived there? etc etc) in my round up post!

The last job - some last minute section drawing in Trench 2

Trench 1 backfilling - 2 hours later, it's done!


Trench 2 backfilling - they've got an extra 3 tonnes to put back in.

Nothing more to say for the moment - a very sad day indeed, but we may be back for a second season - who knows? I'll be doing a round-up post some time next week when I've got all my information. In the meantime - here's some final words from the Olivers Mound Dig, which wouldn't have happened if it were not for many main driving forces: the Shrawley & District Local History Society, and all the effort that Valerie and Rod put in to get it going, the Heritage Lottery Fund for seeing the potential of the site and putting up the cash, Archaeological Investigations for their valuable geophysics and earthwork survey of the site (and the provision of Dale!), AOC Archaeology (Chris) for directing and overseeing the professionalsim of the dig, the Earth Heritage Trust for providing an insight to the geology of the area, the Forestry Commission, who have helped enormously with access and a promise to keep the mound clear and last but not least, it couldn't have happened without a great team of volunteers, a great bunch of people, the hard work and dedication without which this dig would not have been the success that it was. A round of applause I think. So here are a few final photo moments from the last day on site:

Valerie on site inspecting the findings.


Hazel posing for a photo in the HLF T shirt.


Team from Trench 1 - Tina, Terry, me and Hazel

 
The main team on the last day (Chris taking the photo).
Back: Paul, Dave, Tina, Terry, Rod and Clare
Front: Hazel, me, Rollo and Dale

A final thank you to all those volunteers who came and helped out, from picking up a trowel and a shovel, to washing some finds:

Chris C (AOC)
Dale (Arch Investigations)
Clare (won the prize for best digger of the dig )
Dave (prizewinner for find of the dig with some nice green glazed roof tile)
Vicky
Hazel
Paul
Rod (Treasurer of the Society)
Rollo
Tina
Carol
Clare's Mum
Jenny
Neil
Simon (GPS - Arch Investigations)
And Sam!
Oh, and me. Back to sitting in an office on Monday. Probably best to let my muscles recover for a few days