I’ve not really written much about my archaeological research on this blog so far. However, I’m getting ready to head of to Normandy in a few weeks to do a small-scale pilot project on early Christianity in the area (thanks to a grant from the Society for Medieval Archaeology), so I thought I’d include a …
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Folk Against Facism
A rather depressing but perhaps inevitable story about attempts by the BNP to co-opt folk music to the fascist cause. Traditionally, the sound track of the far right has been heavy rock/punk e.g. Skrewdriver). However, as the article points out this is not compatible with the new smooth image the BNP are trying to put …
From dots to downloads
By pure chance I caught a fantastic programme on the Radio this morning called From Dots to Downloads about the rediscovery of tunebooks of 17th to 19th century date. These were private notebooks containing a range of music including traditional folk music compiled by local musicians for their own private use. It was presented by …
Mining heritage
Last week Durham saw the annual Durham Miner’s Gala: this year it attracted over 100 000 people to the city to remember the grant tradition of mining in Durham. This year numbers were doubtlessly swelled by the fact that it was 25 years since the miner’s strike of 1984. The narrow streets were crowded with …
Return to Doggerland
After my blog earlier about drowned lands, I though the following was quite nicely timed. BBC Radio 4 Open Country programme explores Doggerland.http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lmpkb On the first day of this year’s Festival of British Archaeology, BBCRadio 4 will be airing a special programme exploring Europe’s lost world– Doggerland – a land lost beneath the waves of …
Binchester landscapes
I went exploring the environs of Binchester last week. Primarily I was interested in getting a feeling for the extent that there might be surviving Romano-British field archaeology in the area that surrounded the fort. Whilst I did find some interesting features, it was also a fascinating exercise in the exploring a post-medieval and modern …
Drowned Lands
Last week we took the nipper down to Hull to visit The Deep (an excellent afternoon out for all those who love combining looking at fish with colossal sensory overload). Afterwards we headed out east into Holderness, the slice of land that lies in between the Humber estuary, the Wolds and the North Sea. This …
Road to ruin
One of my first professional archaeology jobs after I completed my undergraduate degree was as a site assistant on an English Heritage fieldwork project along the edge of the A1 (‘The Great North Road’) around Catterick. This involved fieldwalking and excavation on the site of the Roman town of Cataractonium, in advance of a scheme …
Call for Papers: Archaeology and Englishness
“Field archaeology is an essentially English form of sport” O.G.S Crawford Theoretical Archaeology Group Conference Durham 2009 As Gordon Brown wrestles with how to promote a sense of ‘Britishness’, there are increased signs of revival of a sense of English identity, whether expressed through the resurgence in popularity of the English flag or increased call …
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Scouring the horse
Nice little article about the ‘scouring’ of the White Horse at Uffington. It’s a wonderful site. Although the Wiltshire Downs are better known, I have a soft spot for the Berkshire Downs, particularly the area from the White Horse along the Ridgeway to Wayland’s Smithy and down to Ashdown House (which has also recently appeared …
Outlandish Knight 