Time Team Modbury
published onBack garden archaeology
The local Scout troop were test pitting with me on day three.
The team assembled in Plymouth a near four hour drive from home for us. Thirsty as ever we head to the bar and sit in the shade in the beer garden it’s hot and humid, too hot for us Poms. We agree on a new rule however: don’t get drunk on the first night of the dig. We’re going to need a good night’s sleep it’s a big day tomorrow. We soon see familiar faces Stewart, John, Helen, Naomi and more of the team and crew. My old friend Simon from the Dig Village days is also in attendance. After dinner a few beers and a catch up I head off to bed and a sticky, restless night I had too, pre dig nerves also a factor not helped by having just a poky fan moving the warm air around my oven of a room.
Friday dig day 1
Up at 0600 for an early breakfast we need to be on site in Modbury for 8.30, a 30 minute drive away and parking we’re warned is a problem. We get there after a bit of a detour unsure of the best route and Simon’s unpredictable ancient sat nav, following the stars would probably have been easier. We get to the Village Hall and it’s a hive of activity everybody keen to find out exactly where they’d be digging. There’s a schedule but it often gets thrown out the window. It gets a bit more chaotic when the Villagers turn up with a million questions. The Town Crier welcomes us and Dani gives out instructions. We get our gear together and head off to the pub. No it’s not that bad we need a drink already but we’ve been assigned to dig a test pit in the pub beer garden, oh my days, my prayers have been answered! The Exeter Inn is our destination on the High Street. Down a narrow passage way we go and then my jaw hits the floor. The beer garden is covered in either white chippings or paving slabs I wasn’t expecting this. Where do we put this test pit? We decide on the pathway through the garden the least likely place we think to be disturbed recently. Meanwhile a camera crew turns up and we film a few scenes about setting out the test pit and then take advantage of the Gin bar to do a couple of skits for the Patreon’s and great fun it was too. Then Dani pops in to see how we’re doing and says I think over there at the back of the beer garden’s the best place for the test pit. So we move our stuff and start digging. We have a couple of helpers Sarah and Callum. We explain what we’re doing but are not encouraged by the landlord of the pubs comments about there being a lot of made up ground where we’re digging. After lunch Dani asks us to check on a few of the test pits in the High Street to see how folks are getting on. After a bit of advice, there was some confusion about how deep each context should be after taking the turf off. 10 cm if you were wondering! We gave them some encouragement then left them to it, they were making good progress. This eats into our digging time though so by the end of the day we haven’t got down very far we’ll need to get a move on tomorrow. Back in Plymouth we’re hot and sweaty but looking forward to a meal and a beer. There’s a good sense of camaraderie developing amongst this new team now oldies and newbies all getting along together with lots of laughing and joking.
Test pit in the Exeter Inn beer garden. My day two test pit team below. Thanks to Philip Webber for the photographs.
Day 2
After assembling at the Village Hall to meet the volunteers we have some new helpers. Lucy and her Daughter Bearfin, Turkish for snowdrop apparently.
We get on site and after some explanations to the new helpers we assign tasks and crack on. We soon come across some large stones, is it a wall? We get advice from Pete Spencer he thinks it might be an entrance to a doorway as one stone looks worn under the weight of many footsteps perhaps. Then a little while later Carenza turns up to give her opinion. She thinks it’s a medieval wall built in line with the old Burgage plot boundary. This is often the way as you Time Team fans will know thoughts, ideas, theories change throughout the dig. We get some surprise visitors, Phil and Ruth old friends from Dunster who helped us on the Dig Village project. It was great to see them again but no time for chatting a film crew have arrived. This time Lucy does a piece to camera talking to Carenza about the finds we’ve got. Carenza advises us to extend the test pit but give it a new Test Pit number to keep it simple. So Test Pit 17 goes in and we immediately hit a layer of concrete, damn!
It’s been hot work and the Landlady of the pub brings us a drink, lovely. Time’s up though so back to Plymouth. We reconvene outside the hotel in Plymouth for a beer before dinner. I have an interesting chat with the boss (Tim Taylor) about the Patreon app amongst other things. I’m tired though and head for bed and another restless night lots to do tomorrow!
The extended test pit with layer of concrete.
Sunday day 3
Dani collars us on the car park saying she needs someone to look after the local Scout troop and put in a test pit with them. Simon immediately takes two steps back so it looks like I’ll have the pleasure of showing the Scout troop the ropes. We skip the morning meeting and head straight to the Exeter Arms and after an hours intensive mattocking and digging I pass the reins on to Simon assisted by Phil and Ruth. l head up the street to meet Nigel who lives in the old Rose and Crown pub now a private residence. The Scouts are waiting and after introductions and initial instructions we start digging and have a few laughs as the youngsters try de- turfing, yes kids it’s hard work. It’s a good job I’ve got some heft or we’d still be there now! The Scout leaders and Bridget a local and her grandson pick up the nuances of test pit recording, photographing and soil sampling very quickly, the kids were so enthusiastic too. What I thought was going to be a tough day turned into an absolute delight. What lovely people and well behaved kids. Dani came to see us and decided we needed to speed things up so she did some express mattocking and I shovelled out the soil. We needed to get deeper to where the ‘good stuff’ would be. Carenza arrived with Camera crew and as they were filming one of the Scouts pulled out of the bottom of the test pit a lovely sherd of Staffordshire slip ware, it looked like a Tiger’s stripes pattern. This was bang on the money, as it were, we wanted proof of activity here during the English Civil war and this dated to C1650 Carenza said. A great find, caught live on camera. Better was to come though, a really dazzling sherd of bright blue Westerwald pot was found by the scouts, it’s really spectacular. The scouts left at 3pm that gave me Bridget and Alfie time to finish recording, tidy up and backfill. What a great day it had been I was totally blown away by the enthusiasm of the youngsters and their eagerness to dig and learn. They’d make great archaeologists if they chose that as a career. Back to the village hall for a party with the local residents, beer and cake on the menu, what more could you ask for. The final scene was shot, we were all exhausted but elated and that folks, as they say, was a wrap!
Me, some villagers and the local Scout Troop.
Some friendly re- enactors I met.
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Written by Ivan Clowsley.
Writer on this blog.