Celebrating Roman West Cumbria Conference 22nd-24th April 2022

The conference includes Kurt Hunter-Mann speaking about archaeology in Ravenglass and Muncaster Castle!  As Zoom will be available, you can watch the conference in the comfort of your own home.

Lake District Archaeology Conference 2021

Romans in Ravenglass and Muncaster Castle has some representation at the conference ...

 

The conference will be held on-line on Saturday 13 November. Tickets are free but please book a place on the link below.

Programme

10.00 Introduction Tiffany Hunt MBE, Member and Chair of Historic Environment Sub Group, Lake District National Park Authority

10.05 Archaeology in the Lake District National Park 2019-21 Eleanor Kingston, Lake District National Park Authority

10.30 Questions and Discussion

10.35 Archaeology in the time of a pandemic – an update on recent work by the National Trust Jamie Lund, National Trust

11.05 Questions and Discussion 

11:15 Coffee/Tea Break

11.30 A new survey of the Carles stone circle, Castlerigg Al Oswald, University of York

11.50 Questions and Discussion

11.55 Recent fieldwork at Ravenglass and Muncaster Castle Kurt Hunter-Mann, Romans in Ravenglass

12.25 Questions and Discussion

12.30 An Aerial Perspective of the High Street David Knight, Historic England

12.50 Questions and Discussion

1.00 Lunch

1.45 ‘Weird and atypical, even degenerate’…or then again, maybe not? Early Neolithic enclosures in the North Al Oswald, University of York

2.30  Questions and Discussion

2.40  Coffee/Tea Break

3.00  The origins of Dacre: What should an early medieval monastery look like? Rachel Newman, Oxford Archaeology North

3:50  Questions and Discussion

4.00  Finish

If you would like to book tickets go to Archaeology Conference Booking Page

Day 4

The final digging day at Muncaster Castle, how time has flown! In Trench 1, several cobble surfaces and possible structural features suggest that there had been considerable activity for much of the medieval period. Finds include some unusual pottery and the key for a barrel padlock.

 Anita and the key to the barrel lock

Close up of the barrel lock key

In Trench 2, investigation of the oven concluded. The stone layer in Trench 3 proved to fill a cut, probably a field drain. It seems likely that the oven and drain represent management of the estate during the last two hundred years or so.

 

                                                                Brian investigates Trench 3

A summary of the excavtions will follow shortly

Day 3

The Lake District weather is being kind so far, so we made progress while the going was good. In Trench 1, another cobble surface was found beneath the first layer, producing more medieval pottery

Jane found a sherd of green glazed, decorated medieval pottery

  

In Trench 2, the oven was cleaned up. Alan was able to confirm that this was the feature found previously, as he had a photograph of it!

Alan and the oven

 

In Trench 3, a layer of stones seems to be filling a ditch or drain. Is this connected to the oven in some way?

Day 2 Tuesday 2021

A very busy day on site! In Trench 1, a cobble surface was revealed, cut by garden features of probable Victorian date. Sherds of medieval pottery suggest this surface could be associated with the 14th century castle. Perhaps archaeological deposits have survived close to the castle, safe from garden landscaping.

 

 

Trench 1 Cobble surface

 

 

 

Bridget found a sherd of unsual pot!

 

 Anita found some green glazed pottery, 13th-14th century in date

 

In Trench 2, it is increasingly clear that the old trench has been relocated and traces of the hearth are visible, but what is it? At Trench 2, it was planned to extend the trench in order to understand the oven better. However, this proved impossible due to the dense vegetation, so it was decided to open up an adjacent trench (Trench 3). This immediately produced a large whetstone.

Jane with the large whetstone

Muncaster Castle Day 1, 2021

What a fine day at the castle!  We soon got to work and great progress was made. In Trench 1, garden features were found below the topsoil.

 

Digging in Trench 1, with the 14th century tower in the background

 

In Trench 2, traces of the old excavation trenches were found, so it seems we are in the right place.

 

 

There's an old trench in here somewhere!

Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day!

The archaeologists are back for 2021!

So here we are at Muncaster Castle, ready for another week of archaeological investigation. The 'Romans in Ravenglass' team are not expecting to find any Romans here, but we do hope to look for evidence of the hall attached to the 14th century tower and perhaps evidence of activity pre-dating the tower.

 

The team at the location of what is to be Trench 1

Also, previous excavations found evidence for possible ovens some way from the castle, which are of unknown date. Hopefully these features will be better understood and dated after this week.

Peter Frost-Pennington and some the team at Trench 2

 Let's see what happens tomorrow!

Celebrating Roman West Cumbria: 30th Anniversary Conference

The recent excavations in Ravenglass and Muncaster Castle will be represented at the Celebrating Roman West Cumbria conference at Senhouse Museum.  Here are details:

Friday 24th - Saturday 25th April 

Celebrating Roman West Cumbria: 30th Anniversary Conference

Tickets available from the Museum: £30

Telephone 01900 816168
Venue: The Settlement, High Street, Maryport

2020 is the 30th anniversary of the Senhouse Roman Museum opening to the public. A number of events and exhibitions are planned throughout the year to celebrate the Museum's continuing success and looking forward to the future. The conference is part of that celebration.
The conference theme 'Celebrating Roman West Cumbria' brings together the research excavations from recent years covering the area from Ravenglass to Beckfoot. Speakers include:

Professor Dr. Sebastian Sommer: Maryport and the Wall - Keyholes towards the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site,

John Zant (Oxford Archaeology North): The Maryport settlement excavations,

Professor Ian Haynes and Tony Wilmott (Newcastle University and Historic England): The Maryport altars and temples project 2011-15,

Lindsay Allason-Jones (Newcastle University): New light on old Stones,

Chris Howard-Davis and Rachel Newman (Oxford Archaeology North): An evaluation excavation at Beckfoot,

Kurt Hunter-Mann: Romans in Ravenglass: Archaeological investigations at Ravenglass and Muncaster Castle,

Dr. Pete Wilson (Chair, Senhouse Museum Trust): Looking to the West? - Roman military deployment in West Cumbria,

Professor David Breeze (Patron, Senhouse Museum Trust)
The conference will include an opportunity to tour the site of the Roman fort at Maryport and the Senhouse Roman Museum.

For further information (timings, etc) go to: http://www.senhousemuseum.co.uk/files/4715/8029/5183/SRM_30th_anniversary_conference.pdf

Ravenglass 2019 - the conclusion

 Digging Trench 4 on the cliff edge!

That was a good week! The weather was mostly kind to us - handy as we were digging in such an exposed position facing the Irish Sea. 

  

Another cobble surface!

 In 2017, test pits east of the Barrow to Carlisle railway unearthed Roman occupation continuing at least 250m north of the fort. This year, this activity was found to cover the entire area west of the railway line, increasing the area of the vicus by another 2 hectares. Cobble surfaces, drains and gulleys suggest domestic and industrial activity, similar to that found north and east of the fort in recent years. Further questions, such as the date of this activity, will require more extensive excavation.

              Tea break (left to right) Brian, Leo, Len, Alan, Stephe, Bryan, Zoe and Debbie

Thanks so much to the professional archaeologists who gave their time for free: Bryan, Debbie and Zoe. Also to the locals who helped: Brian, Leo, Len, Alan, Stephe, Nick and Craig.

Day three on the Boat House Field

The view when the diggers had a teabreak

By Day 3, four trenches have been opened up. Three show signs of Roman occupation, the fourth was dug in an ancient watercourse that flooded overnight! Cobble surfaces and burnt clay are typical of the industrial activity that has been found in the vicus in previous years.

 Cobbled surface

 Stone lined drain

Kurt will shortly be writing a blog summing up of what was found!

A new season - in the Boat House Field

 Opening up Trench 1, with the River Esk (right) and the platform of the Roman fort (right background).  volunteers Alan and Len (unfortunately with backs to camera) are in the foreground.

This year, after being up at Muncaster Castle, the team is back closer to the fort. With a team coming from York, there are also two diggers from Lancaster, as well as local volunteers.

The first trenches have been opened on the Boat House Field. Trench 1 was intended to find a ditch under the topsoil, but the topsoil was surprisingly thick, so we have decided to excavate both ends of the trench to find at what depth the Roman levels (if any) lie. Other, smaller test pits are being opened up to identify the extent of Romal deposits across the field.
 

3D model of Ravenglass ...!

This was brought to my attention by Roman crime author Ruth Downie.  Have a play with Nick Mason's 3D model of part of the bathouse - there's no need to install any specialised software:

Roman Bath House, Ravenglass, Cumbria

Romans in Ravenglass exhibition launched!

The Romans in Ravenglass exhibition was launched at the Ravenglass Railway Museum on Friday 17th February! Lots of people were invited, including the main sponsors, the LLW Repository. Unfortunately, the author of the panels, Kurt, was unable to attend but hopes to see the exhibition later in the year.

Meanwhile, Brian & Leo got a starring role on the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Co Ltd Facebook page.  Here they are installing the exhibition panels:

Catch the exhibition from now until June 2019.

Hadrian's Wall Operations Manual by Simon Forty

This book not only covers the usual wall section, but also the rest of the area. Maryport gets a mention. And so does Ravenglass!  It's on page 164, under the section covering Civilians and the Wall, and concerns the excavation of the vicus undertaken in 2013-2014. The author has obviously read the publication (large file which may take several minutes to download) which was written by Kurt Hunter-Mann and produced by ArcHeritage.

Romans in Ravenglass exhibition boards!

The boards were printed and mounted by Friday and Kurt rushed down to the Press Green to pick them up at 5pm. They are currently residing in York, but due to be sent off to the Ravenglass Railway Museum on Monday.

Installing the exhibition!

As seen on the Facebook page for the Ravenglass Railway Museum: this is project stalwart Leo starting to fill up the exhibition cabinet with lots of Romans in Ravenglass finds. 

The exhibition will open on 15th February, with lots to see, including the cabinet, exhibition boards and videos.

Happy New Year - with an exhibition!

Sneak preview: screen shot of the draft of one of the seven boards to be installed in the Museum - the finished board may look different!

The Romans in Ravenglass crew have been working on an exhibition which is to go into the Museum at Ravenglass and Eskdale Steam Railway in February.  It will be be filling the Community Exhibition space.

LLW Repository Ltd has kindly funded the exhibition boards

Day 5 - Excavations at Muncaster Castle

 

 

 Trench 1 showing rubble on both sides of the culvert, with the path at the far end

 

Trench 2 having been backfilled already, we devoted all out attention to Trench 1. Removal of the base of the path at the east end of the trench revealed more rubble, presumably the same fill as that at the west end of the trench and in Trench 2. Whatever the rubble filled was a very large cut. Although we didn't find anything Roman during the excavation, there is clearly still lots of archaeology to investigate at Muncaster Castle.

The final day backfilling team: Len, Bryan, Rowan and Alan

 

All that remained to do was to backfill Trench 2, then off to the cafe for some cake!

Thanks to the 2018 excavation team: Bryan Antoni, Alan Bell, Cath Duncan, Anita Garnett, Bridget Gerry, Brian Kennish, Rowan May, Leo Saldanha, Doug Scales and Len Watson. Thanks also to Peter Frost-Pennington for his support and for letting us use the Castle's cafe; and to Sharon Arrowsmith, Muncaster Castle curator, for supplying information about the site. Roll on 2019!

Day 4 - Excavations at Muncaster Castle

 Anita, Bryan, Len and Bridget working in Trench 1

 

The main discovery in Trench 1 was that the culvert had been inserted into the rubble fill. It is likely that the rubble filled a large ditch heading towards the castle, and the culvert had be constructed to improve drainage.

Leo and Rowan working in Trench 2

All that remained to be done in Trench 2 was to record and backfill it. However, Leo managed to recover a fine collection of 18th century pottery from the rubble layer!

The next blog will sum up the four days of digging!

Day 3 - Excavations at Muncaster Castle

The culvert set into a thick rubble layer
 

We made good progress today, despite having to finish early due to the rain - at least the cafe was handy! Trench 1 was extended to the east to confirm that there was a gravel path heading towards the castle; presumably this was part of an earlier garden design.  At the other end of the trench, the rubble deposit west of the culvert proved to be very thick.

The rubble-filled cut in Trench 2
 

In Trench 2, the rubble layer was found to fill a large cut. The west edge of the cut was found, but not the east. It seems that the rubble layers in Trenches 1 and 2 fill the same, very large cut.