Archaeology Service - some of our field projects

Find out here about some of our field projects. For more details, follow the links on this page.

Please select the links on this page for more information on some of our field projects...

Pentrehyling and Brompton Roman fort

In March 2010 the Archaeology Service carried out a watching brief on roadworks on the A489 road between Pentrehyling and Bluebell Crossroads, Brompton, in southwest Shropshire. This section of the road runs through an area occupied by the Pentrehyling Roman fort, a vicus, and a number of Roman marching camps. These sites had been investigated archaeologically before in the 1980s and 1990s. The 2010 watching brief located a number of features associated with the Roman fort, vicus, and marching camps. These included the probable southern and eastern fort ditches, a number of pits within the vicus area, and the possible western ditch of one of the marching camps.

The Stiperstones

The Stiperstones hills form part of the upland area of south Shropshire. The area comprises rough moorland and areas of unimproved pasture surrounding ridge-top peaks of frost-shattered tors of distinctive white quartzite sandstone.
In 2003 English Heritage and English Nature agreed to fund an archaeological survey of The Stiperstones hills by the Archaeology Service, Shropshire County Council. The principal aim of the survey was to map and assess the archaeological remains on the hills. The survey consisted of desk-based research and a field survey using Global Positioning System (GPS) survey equipment, and was carried out between October 2003 and March 2004. The survey recorded over 1500 archaeological features dating from the early Bronze Age through to the post-medieval period.

Acton Scott Heritage Project

This is a two year, Heritage Lottery Fund community project run by the Archaeology Service of Shropshire County Council. The aim of the project has been to explore major questions about the settlement and land use of the parish over the last 3000 years.

Members of the Heritage Project group have been taking part in a range of archaeological and historical techniques. These have included field surveys of various earthwork sites around the parish, field walking, shovel pit testing and a tree and hedgerow survey. Members of the group have also been involved in historical research and interpretation. And there have been two seasons of trial excavations on a cropmark Iron Age farmstead enclosure and Roman villa discovered in the 19th century.

St Austin's Street, Shrewsbury

An archaeological field evaluation was carried out in June 2005 by the Archaeology Service, Shropshire County Council, on the former Central Garage site, 7 St Austin Street, Shrewsbury. The site lies within the historic core of the medieval town and in an area that is likely to have been in existence in Anglo-Saxon times and which continued to be developed throughout the medieval and post-medieval periods.

A trench was excavated across the frontage of 7 St Austin’s Street, revealing a series of pits of Anglo-Saxon date sealed by a yard soil of late medieval and early post-medieval date.

A small quantity of Saxon period Stafford-ware pottery was recovered from the site.

Rectory Wood Heritage Project

In March 2009 the Archaeology Service led a community archaeology investigation at the Rectory Wood and Field Countryside Heritage Site on behalf of the Rectory Wood Heritage Project.
The investigations included the evaluation excavation of two structures, an icehouse and a summerhouse, within a former 18th and 19th century landscaped garden with “Capability” Brown connections.
The icehouse was seen to be largely intact ,although its roof had collapsed into the chamber. Only the foundations and floor of the summerhouse remained.
The project was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Shropshire Council.

Lion Court, Church Stretton

In January 2002 archaeological investigations were carried out on a residential development site at Lion Court, Church Stretton, Shropshire. The development site lay in the historic core of the medieval settlement and post-medieval town, and an archaeological evaluation in 2001 had found significant archaeological features in the form of pits, one of them stone-lined, of possible 11th- to 12th-century date. The 2002 investigations further examined these features and surrounding area. The pits proved to be part of a well-constructed corn-drying kiln of probable 12th-century date. The kiln had gone out of use and been filled in by the later medieval period.

St Austin's Friars and Bridge Street, Shrewsbury

In 2007 work was carried out to erect a two-storey office extension following the demolition of a former school house building at Bridge Street, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, and to relocate the school house building on land at St Austin’s Friars, Shrewsbury. The development site lay within the historic core of the medieval town and continued to be developed throughout the medieval and post-medieval periods. A desk-based assessment by R K Morriss in 1996 and a field evaluation by the Archaeology Service, SCC, in 1997 had identified archaeological features within the development area. These included the line of the 13th century town wall and part of the town's Augustinian Friary.

A programme of archaeological work was included as part of the development to record these and any other archaeological features that might be revealed. The work was carried out by the Archaeology Service, SCC, in April and May 2007. On the St Austin's Friars site this work revealed a sequence of medieval features and yards, a late medieval sandstone wall and the remains of a post-medieval house, the White House, demolished in 1978. On the Bridge Street site a number of medieval and post-medieval pits were revealed, the latter possibly associated with a tanning industry. The town wall was shown to have probably followed the line of the northern boundary of the site, where sandstone stonework is incorporated into the current buildings.

Llanymynech Limeworks

In 2006-7, the Archaeology Service carried out a programme of investigation and recording at the Llanymynech Heritage Area on behalf of the Llanymynech Limeworks Heritage Project.

The investigations included two separate excavations at the Hoffman Kiln in September 2006 and October 2007 which aimed to record remains relating to former tramways servicing the kiln. The excavations also provided members of the local community an opportunity to take part in a hands-on investigation of the archaeology of the kiln. The remains of former yards and tramways beside the kiln, and parts of the structure of a steel roof that once covered the kiln were recorded.

Drawn and photographic records were made of several structures during the course of the restoration works, including a former Stable Block, a Tally Hut, and a Winding Drum House at the top of an inclined plane.

A53 Hodnet Bypass

Between May and August 2002 the Archaeology Service, Shropshire County Council, carried out a watching brief on the topsoil stripping and initial groundworks for the construction of the A53 Hodnet Bypass.

Among the historical features recorded during the watching brief were the drains and ditches of 19th-century water-meadows alongside the River Tern at Wollerton and Lostford, and a 19th-century stable, once part of a small-holding, at Webster Lane on Hodnet Heath.

The Archaeology Service also carried out the rescue excavation of an early Bronze Age cremation cemetery, discovered by chance at the Espley end of the new road. At least 17 individual cremation pits were identified, containing charcoal and fragments of burnt human bone. Samples of the charcoal from three of the pits were sent for radiocarbon dating, and these have dated the cemetery to the early Bronze Age, between c.1750 BC and 1300 BC.

Corbet Wood and Grinshill

In 2008-9, the Archaeology Service, Shropshire County Council carried out a rapid field survey of archaeological features on Grinshill, Clive and Grinshill, Shropshire.

There have previously been finds of Mesolithic and Neolithic flint from the summit of the hill, but the site is principally known as the source of Grinshill Stone, a high quality sandstone used extensively in buildings in the area from the 13th century onwards.

The survey recorded a total of 135 features, mainly associated with post-medieval quarrying on the hill. A number of ruined cottages or settlement sites – probably quarrymen’s cottages – were also noted.

Sheinton

Sheinton is a small village about 14km southeast of Shrewsbury. In 2004-6 the Archaeology Service has been working with a local group exploring the archaeology and heritage of Sheinton. We have looked at an Iron Age/Romano-British enclosure and a Roman site close to the village.