Walks and talks reveal hidden archaeology

The hidden archaeology under our feet was the theme of Reepham Tracks & Traces, a series of walks and talks held in July to coincide with the Festival of British Archaeology, and organised by Reepham-based archaeologists and artists Trevor and Imogen Ashwin.
 

The Kerdiston walk passed close to a field named “Chapel Close” on Ordinance Survey mapping of the 1880s. Air photo study has recently revealed the outline of a small vanished church there, with a round tower

 
The idea for the event came when they realised the Festival would be an ideal follow-on to last year’s Connecting Threads: Exploring Reepham’s footpaths, the CPRE Norfolk project they helped co-ordinate during 2013/14.
 
Reepham Tracks & Traces included walks in the very different landscapes to the south (Whitwell and Witchingham) and the north (Salle and Kerdiston) of Reepham. A third walk took in the town centre, where participants imagined the medieval market square with its buttercross and three churches.
 
On these walks were discussed a much-travelled windmill (explaining where some of its timbers ended up), a Roman trunk road, a hermit’s cell, tanneries, deserted medieval villages and a bomb crater ingeniously converted into a lake.
 
The series of talks was also well attended. “Land of Faunus? Tracking the Horned God of Norfolk” was a speculative journey through the art and artefacts of Norfolk, asking why Norfolk people loved the Roman god of flocks, fields and the wildwood – his worship is not attested elsewhere in Britain.
 
“Imagining Norfolk’s Lost Landscapes: Hidden settlements, roads and burial sites” focused on new discoveries in the area around Reepham, many made by scanning Google Earth for marks in cereal crops that reveal the sites of ancient monuments.
 
Sponsored by Reepham Town Council, “Religious Cults in Roman Norfolk: Sacred objects from the ploughsoil” was an entertaining talk by guest speaker Dr Adrian Marsden of Norwich Castle Museum, who identifies thousands of objects each year from members of the public, mostly metal-detectorists.
 
World Tree has arranged further walks and talks for autumn 2014, and also offer individual events for groups and parties; their Facebook page offers archaeological news and chat.
 
www.world-tree.co.uk/events
 
See our earlier news story:

 

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