Categories
.303 Army Cartridge Cordite Downs Edwardian Falmer Kingston near Lewes Military Newmarket Farm Newmarket Hill Photographs South Downs The Royal Laboratory Training Victorian Woolwich Arsenal WWII

Leonard Morris’s Live Bullet handed in to police

Last year, on a site visit, I found what I thought might have been a WWII live bullet. But when it was pointed out to me that it may be both dangerous and even illegal to possess I decided it was time to hand it in to the police. Before doing so I recorded it […]

Categories
Castle Hill NNR Hazard Health and Safety Juggs Road Local history Newmarket Farm Newmarket Hill Photographs Snow

Snow cancelled clearance

Just catching up on a post I meant to write a while back – the day after I surveyed the site in the snow. Whilst the site itself was only covered in a shallow few inches of snow, the snow on the Juggs Road (Drove Avenue) just on the northern side of the ridge leading […]

Categories
Archaeology Castle Hill Google Calendar icalendar Newmarket Farm Newmarket Farm Dig Newmarket Hill South Downs Woodingdean WordPress

Upcoming Events

Here I am making public the dates of my forthcoming volunteer dig days! The next three days are: We work on site every Friday and Sunday, 10am-4pm, from April to December 2013. Volunteers and other visitors are most welcome. We meet at the Falmer Road Car Park, Woodingdean (just N of the junction with Bexhill […]

Categories
Archaeology Architecture Balsdean Cottage Excavation Newmarket Bottom Newmarket Farm Newmarket Hill Outside Toilet Project South Downs Trench Water tank Woodingdean

Revised Excavation Plan

Detailing my archaeological plans, trench by trench, has enabled me to realise just how much work will be involved in order to better understand how the cottage may have functioned: Find NE corner of garden boundary wall (1x1m trench on corner & extend if required to max 2x2m) Find S boundary wall junction; including corner […]

Categories
Biodiversity Brambles Brighton & Hove City Council Castle Hill Castle Hill NNR Conservation Excavation Nettles Newmarket Farm Project Smiths Gore

Lots of Good News!

Another hurdle has been cleared! Smiths Gore, who manage Brighton & Hove City Council’s farmland portfolio (including Castle Hill Nature Reserve), have obtained formal permission for me to go ahead with my excavation project. There is now only one more permission to be obtained – namely that of being able to dig on a nature […]

Categories
Archaeology Brainstorm Excavation Management Newmarket Farm Project management Project planning Surveying Timescale

Excavation Planning

Happier now! In my last post (pun not intended!) I realised I needed to read about Project Planning in general. As a result I realised I was trying to put my cart in front of the horse; I was trying to timetable an hypothetical end point of one year, and then working backwards towards how […]

Categories
Castle Hill Nature reserve Newmarket Farm Newmarket Hill Snow Surveying Weather

Site Surveying in the Snow

I like snow – so am looking forward to helping clear the rest of the site of its brambles, etc tomorrow – in about 10cm or more of snow! Malcolm Emery, the Reserve Warden, agreed with me that we should go ahead as planned – unless it snows again in the night. I was up […]

Categories
Archaeology Excavation Newmarket Farm Photographs Surveying Time Team

New Team Member Helps Confirm Site Plan

Sunday 13th January, 2013 My (nearly) 13 year old niece and my mother, braved the cold to help me find out whether a plan of Newmarket Farm which we had was an accurate representation of the archaeology on the ground. The plan was a copy of the one that was found in documents held in […]

Categories
Castle Hill Conservation Environment Natural England Nature reserve Newmarket Farm Newmarket Hill Photographs South Downs Volunteer Ranger Service

Newmarket Farm Site Clearance

Thanks to Malcolm Emery and a couple of colleagues from Natural England, as well as a group from the South Downs Volunteer Ranger Service, at least half the site was cleared yesterday (Weds 10th January 2013), and a second day has been planned to complete the job. The farmyard, in the centre of the photo, […]

Categories
Map Memory Newmarket Farm Newmarket Hill Painting Satelite Image South Downs

Newmarket Farm

Just off to visit Malcolm Emery (E Sussex Reserves Manager, Natural England) at Castle Hill Nature Reserve – helping with the clearing of the Newmarket Farm site. I thought it might be useful for me to quickly post some more images of the site before heading off. This is an artist’s impression of Newmarket Farm. […]