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Newsletter 43 - Spring 2005 Fieldwork Group 2004 This has been an exceptionally busy year. In addition to the usual winter recording by individuals, we had the task of searching stream valleys and drainage channels in advance of bog restoration work by the Forestry Commission and Environment Agency. At Slufters for example, a total of about seven boiling sites (including two uncovered after machines started work) was revealed. The next valley to the east, Highland Water, proved less productive with no significant archaeological features found on the line of the river within the proposed working area. However, on a successful fieldwork day there, several new sites were discovered close to the boundary of Puckpits on the ridge above the river. The Section held a further day’s searching at Blackensford and Blackwater (within Dames Slough). Here, in addition to the huge boiling mound already recorded at Blackensford Lawn, a number of other boiling sites, several charcoal pits and a minor earthwork were discovered. The necessary precautions to protect these sites will, it is promised, be taken when the Environment Agency starts work next year. In the spring, our bid for EU funds through “Leader +” was successful and we began drawing up plans for an archaeological survey of all the Adjacent Commons of the Forest not covered in our 1997 and 2000 reports on National Trust land. The new survey will also cover Minstead Manor waste in the centre of the Forest. The funding also provides for an expansion of the New Forest Archaeological Database to cover all the commonable land of the Forest and not just the Crown lands which had been completed up to 2003. This expansion is already about fifty percent complete and new finds from the winter’s programme will be added before the whole project is due for completion in July 2005. At the time of writing (December 2004), fieldwork has been commenced at West Wellow Common and Warren Plantation in the north east of the Forest. In the summer, our excavation at Fletchers Thorns proved successful despite appalling weather which resulted in the loss of two full days. A mediaeval date for the earthwork was indicated and a report will appear next year. The plan for 2005 is that we will work on a rather similar site at Ferny Knap, again during the last week of August. At the time of writing we are awaiting a decision on our application for permission. In November we were suddenly faced with the need to carry out a survey of the areas in and around Roundhill and Hollands Wood Camp Sites, which the Forestry Commission is seeking to develop. Work at Hollands Wood is still underway, but that at Roundhill was completed and a report submitted to the planning authority in the middle of December. It proved to be a fascinating area, densely populated with earthworks of a variety of periods. If planning permission is granted for the development, there will be serious damage to the setting of these sites. We have attended several site meetings with the Forestry Commission to mark known archaeological features in advance of felling and extraction. The system of consultation and marking seems to work quite well, although there was a serious breakdown at Fletchers Thorns where activities of a rogue contractor badly damaged the site during the winter prior to our excavation. Among the areas marked this year were Godshill Inclosure, Godshill Wood and Holidays Hill. Of the discoveries by individuals this year, perhaps the highlight was the finding by Chris Read of a probable royal hunting lodge site near Thorney Hill. A total of eighty five new sites has been added to the database during 2004. This compares with 71 in 2003, 60 in 2002 and 42 in 2001. It is particularly pleasing that this year we have had more members than ever before taking an active part in fieldwork. They are contributing not only their skills, but due to the “matched funding” required for the Leader + project, their work is also assisting with the finances. In November there was a successful training evening when the Commons project was explained and volunteers were signed up for fieldwork, photography and historical research. | ||