BACAS is going to survey the ‘Pewter Field’, a Romano-British settlement site on the north-east corner of the Lansdown plateau.
This project is a part of the Lansdown Environs Archaeological Project (LEAP), recently set up by BACAS to coordinate investigation of the Lansdown area. Excavations over the years on the site east of Sir Bevil Grenville’s Monument have confirmed the presence of considerable development in this area in Roman times. Many of the finds are in the Roman Baths Museum.
The field has a number of ridges covering the remains of walls, with evidence of a number of rooms on an east-west axis, though the full extent is not known. Six buildings were excavated in 1905-08, and seven stone coffins and evidence of iron smelting were found. Excavation in 1962-3 revealed numbers of moulds and iron slag suggesting industrial activity.
Members of the volunteer team will be available to talk to members of the public passing on the Cotswold Way to tell them about the project, as well as advise on other aspects of the work.
Project Leader Janet Pryke said: “This promises to be an exciting ten days trying to establish what this site looked like and what it was for. Hopefully this will prove to be a good start to the LEAP Project as we use our techniques to find out more about the pattern of development in this settlement area. We are grateful to the landowners for the permission to carry out this work, to Richard Sermon (Bath and North East Somerset Senior Archaeological Officer), and Historic England for consent to work on this Scheduled Monument.”
The project will run every day from Tuesday 20th to Thursday 29th March. If you are a member who would like to take part, then please email projects@bacas.org.uk with your availability. Previous experience of geophysics is not essential – training will be provided.