'PROJECT CASTLE': update January 2006
Throughout the winter the volunteers involved
in the Project Castle at Clavering have been busy carrying out surveys on and
around the castle site. The geophysics surveys were completed in the summer,
under the leadership of David and Jane Laing, and in the autumn the team were
given training in earthwork survey techniques, by archaeologist Ellen Heppell.
The survey team,this one led by Rosemarie and
Cliff Nash, were then equipped to do the survey of the Dam meadow, which
adjoins the moated site. The summer geophysics results found the field largely
empty, compared to the 'noisy' results on the castle itself, where ditches and
banks of a number of possible buildings were indicated.
The geophysics results, which relate to what is
underground, cannot be fully interpreted without the above-ground earthwork
survey. The team are using a 'Topcon' level on a 20metre x 20metre grid system
to map the changes in ground height. Each three-person team takes about 2-3
hours to lay out a grid and plot it, with one member holding the measuring
pole, another reading the measurements through the eyepiece of the level, and
the third member writing down the readings.
Height data collected during the surveys is
then sent by the volunteers to the archaeologists at County Hall, Chelmsford,
who transfer the findings to a computer, to create a model of the changing
contours and any significant lumps and bumps. This model will help to identify
any earthworks associated with the castle and provide information on the size
and shape of the castle and its environs.
The volunteers have had to work through some
very cold and damp conditions, but are determined to map out the whole of the
meadow by the spring. They are currently about halfway through. As well as
this, a work party from the Clavering Landscape History Group which is running
Project Castle, spent a recent Sunday clearing undergrowth which was
encroaching on the banks of the Dam meadow. Another work party is planned for
12 February.
Although no buildings or signs of settlement
have been found, the team have uncovered evidence of boundaries that pre-date
the boundaries that are there now. Meanwhile on the castle platform, a
different kind of survey has been going on. A more sophisticated piece of
equipment, a Total Station, is being used by archaeologist Ellen Heppell to
map out the earthworks inside the moat. This will later be added to the
geophysics results to build up a picture of where the buildings would have
been.
When the spring comes, the volunteers will
re-commence geophysics surveys on other meadows near the castle, to be
followed with earthwork survey on those areas in the winter. The project,
which was launched in 2005 with a big Medieval Event, is planned to be
completed in the winter of 2006-7. Once the information has been processed, a
new interpretation board will be provided overlooking the castle site, for the
information of residents and visitors. It is also planned to produce a CD ROM
of video film and information.
