Ivan Clowsley

The search for a lost Medieval Village and other archaeological projects.

Steve Shearn’s drone shot of the Lazerton Chapel excavation.

In 2014 a friend called Cally let me know about a project that was starting in Dorset called WAFA (Wessex Academy of Field Archaeology) and that it would be overseen by Julian Richards of Meet the Ancestors fame. Of course I jumped at the chance.

Over the next few years we took part in some training weekends studying various forms of archaeology. Our base was Mick’s barn named in honour of Professor Mick Aston and with Teresa Hall’s (Mick’s partner) blessing. We did a Snails and Soils weekend which described to us how you tell by the type of snails found in the soil what had been happening there previously. Certain types of snails live close to the edge of rivers or streams for instance so if you find that snails shell you know a water course once ran through there. We took soil samples across a valley with an augur to see what we could find. We did some experimental archaeology in the form of coppicing with various types of hand axes flint, iron and steel amongst others. The aim was to see how easy or hard it was to coppice trees with the various types of axe and whether it affected how the trees grew back. We test pitted the valley too. We also did an excavation of the abandoned medieval village of Lazerton. The village was recorded in Domesday as having 28 occupants. Our main area of interest was around the area where the survey work suggested the chapel to be in. We we’re spot on and found the chapel along with various pieces of Medieval pottery and some Roman. This was not a great surprise as the site is over looked by Hod Hill. The Durotriges had a hill fort here which was captured in AD 53 by the Roman Second Legion ( Augusta), led by Vespasian. During the dig we found a child’s skeleton buried close to the chapel. This was a very moving experience as well as a delicate one. It was my first skeletal excavation so it was fascinating to understand the process of excavating and recording. It was very emotive too, this was a young child aged around 8 years of age so we undertook the work with sensitivity and respect. To work so closely with Julian and his colleague Dan was a real privilege. Julian is a really nice man who’s also funny, generous and who makes time for everyone and is also a fantastic archaeologist. We really need Julian back on our television screens. One evening he gave myself and a couple of fellow diggers Cally and Simon a guided tour of Knowlton Henge. A church within a henge a beautiful, spiritual place.

Ultimately and with my deepest regret WAFA failed as a project as funding ran out. It was great fun while it lasted and I learnt a lot. Thanks to Julian and the rest of the WAFA family for some wonderful times in deepest Dorset. 

https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/19070009.six-abandoned-lost-dorset-villages-never-knew/

Julian explaining how we’ll undertake the skeletal excavation.

The juvenile skeleton.

Knowlton Church and Henge.

Ditch around the chapel.

Julian shows us coppicing with a flint axe.