Newmarket Hill (under construction)

Category: Archaeology

  • Good news!

    Yesterday I was really pleased to receive a positive reply to my proposal to excavate the site of Newmarket Farm from Natural England’s, Senior Reserves Manager, Malcolm Emery.

    I wrote my proposal to conduct an archaeological dig shortly before Christmas, and sent a copy to Malcolm Emery, who is responsible for Castle Hill National Nature Reserve where the proposed dig site is located.

    Possible dates have now been set for volunteers to clear the site of its rank vegetation over the next month or two (weather permitting!); the clearance of the brambles and nettles on that part of the nature reserve is already part of the management plan.

    The nature reserve is both an SSSI (a Site of Special Scientific Interest) and an SAC (a Special Area of Conservation), and as such is an area which has been given special protection under the European Union’s Habitats Directive. It is understandable that metal detectors are forbidden without formal permission. Many of the rare plants found on the nature reserve only grow on undistured soils. Because of this, I have made sure that the dig site has been very carefully delineated to ensure that none of the protected species and habitats are disturbed. The use of a metal detector is standard policy for an archaeological excavation;

    • to scan the spoil from trenches for metal objects
    • as an aid to identifying possible trench locations (‘geophysics’)
    • they may also help identify the locations of potential unexploded WWII ordnance (the farm was used for artillery practice during the war)
    • they should not be used merely to prospect for ‘treasure’ as part of a planned excavation.

    I was therefore pleased that Malcolm Emery intends to forward copies of my proposal to his colleagues who share responsibility for various aspects of the Castle Hill SSSI / SAC.  They are Susan Simpson (Adviser with responsibility for the SSSI/SAC) and Kristoffer Hewitt (Team Leader for the Land Management Team covering the area). Between them, and using the information I sent him in my “meticulous project report” (as you may have gathered – I have a tendency to go on a bit!), the Appropriate Assessment will be completed and he will forward it to me. This is required to secure permission for the excavation under the SSSI / SAC legislative requirements, to ensure that the excavations and associated works will not have an adverse affect upon the notified natural features of the SAC.

    He also plans to talk to the neighbouring farmer in the hopes of negotiating terms for easier access. The most direct route to the site is across the field from the radio mast on top of Newmarket Hill. If this agreement is secured, he could get a ‘poor man’s gate installed in the fence line to avoid any need for climbing over it.

    Whilst I have been involved in a wide variety of projects in the past, several of which involved liason with a number of different agencies, this is certainly the most exciting. So a big thank-you to Malcolm Emery for helping to make it happen.

  • Distant memories…

    It all started with my mother pointing out that a pile of demolition rubble over the Downs beyond Woodingdean, hidden by nettles and brambles, was her birth place. So I asked her uncle, Dougie Holland – an artist who had distant memories of the farm – to paint a picture of what it might have looked like. His memory was not clear, and nor is that of everyone else we have spoken to with their distant memories of when they lived or visited, over 60 years ago.

    Was the well on the south or the north side of the house, and how big was it? Was the outside toilet by the front garden gate or next to the house by the front door? And indoors, what was the fireplace like – how big was it, and was it in the centre of the house against the wall which divided the downstairs into two? And where was the pantry? Was there a backdoor?

    Amongst the brambles and nettles I discovered a patch of spearmint, to the south of the house site, which coincides with the approximate location of a water tank shown on a plan of the farm drawn in about 1920. However, no-one who lived there seems to be able to recall such a tank. Perhaps it was really a well? Such plans have often been found to be incorrect – the plan may have shown a proposed tank which was never constructed. But then again, memories are also known to be fallable.

    These are some of the reasons why I started to consider the possibility of an archaeological excavation. Those who used to live there have memeories of the place. An archaeological dig would provide material substance to their precious memories. In turn, their distant memories would help give meaning to the objects which may be found.