We’ve only just returned from Somerset but James is already beginning to think about next Summer.

A few hundred meters south west of where we were digging this year lies a large arable field that until the 1970s contained the earthworks of a deserted medieval settlement that may have been called ‘Barrow’. Unfortunately the earthworks were bulldozed and nothing of this little settlement is now visible,

When the earthworks were destroyed local archaeologists collected a small quantity of medieval pottery. This include some 10-11 century AD sherds.  We hope to investigate this field with geophysics over the winter and perhaps carry out some excavation there next year.

Investigating ‘Barrow’ would tell us a lot about how well the archaeological remains of the settlement survive. It might also give us the opportunity to explore the earlier, pre-Norman, phases of activity. The origins of medieval settlements and their relationship with the preceding Roman landscape are important issues and Barrow may offer us an opportunity to address these questions.