Archaeology

I was employed originally at the Newcastle Arts Centre to set up and run the architectural ceramics project, to produce mainly decorative floor tiling as part of the overall restoration of a group of old derelict buildings. Prior to my studying ceramics and eventually becoming a potter, I was greatly interested in Archaeology and almost did my degree in the subject. However I did learn a lot about the subject (luckily) . The builders at the Arts Centre when digging a drain trench , threw a lot of Roman pottery on the skip in the street outside , I spotted it, rescued it from the skip. I then conducted a proper test trench and immediately found Roman  stone foundations.  Subsequently I with the help of my ceramics team excavated as much of the site as time  would allow. I discovered the only part of Hadrian's Wall to ever been found in the centre of Newcastle; not only that but it turned to be a Milecastle and in the wrong position too. The discovery was recorded and published by Barbara Harbottle, the City Archaeologist. See a synopsis of the report below. The Roman pottery found was usful for dating;   standard mass produced wares that are found all over the Roman empire.  However on the other side of the site I found a Well, a thousand years later than the Milecastle -- the pottery from that was something else!


 

THE WESTGATE ROAD MILECASTLE - no number

B. Harbottle, R. Fraser and F.C. Burton, Britannia 19 (1988) 153-62.  

Stone foundations, interpreted as part of a milecastle on Hadrian's Wall, were uncovered in 1985 during the conversion into the Newcastle Arts Centre of 67-75 Westgate Road (NZ24526401). The initial discovery was made, and almost all the subsequent excavation carried out, by David Fry, the resident potter at the Centre. The recording on site and publication were undertaken by the Tyne & Wear Archaeology Unit. The evidence for the milecastle consisted of a flagged foundation course 2.90m wide, a fair stretch of the first ashlar course and fragmentary remains of the core of the second, which together formed most of the south-west corner of the structure. The footings of the south wall extended 6m eastwards from the angle to end in a straight edge against a spread of smaller stones, which perhaps marked the position of the south gate. Most of the datable pottery from this layer, and from possible internal construction or destruction deposits, has been ascribed to the second century.   This Milecastle, probably of long-axis type, was unusual in several respects. It was built on a buried ground surface which had not been cultivated, and the ard marks must therefore have been made while clearing the land before construction. It was probably dismantled before the end of the second century. And, though sited on the presumed line of the Wall, it was found to be c.730m east of the suggested site of Milecastle 5, and some 580m west of the supposed Milecastle 4. In conclusion, it must be clear that the evidence for these two is unsatisfactory.     Barbara Harbottle 1988

pictures of the foundations of the Roman Milecastle as it is now
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THE MEDIAEVAL JUGS


Group of 13th Century Jugs I found in a Well by my Studio

The full story, and more pictures of these jugs to follow    

  Why the Fish ?

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