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.

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.

Day One - Excavations at Muncaster Castle, 2018

 The excavation, with a fine view of Muncaster Castle

 
This year we are at Muncaster Castle, investigating the grounds just in case the Romans were here too.  Kurt and Bryan are back again, plus it's great to see Rowan return! 

Monday
After meeting up with the volunteers, we opened up two trenches: Trench 1 was laid out across a stone-lined culvert that had been located recently. Trench 2 was laid out to investigate an area of rubble nearby. We had managed to remove the topsoil in both trenches, despite occasional rainy spells.