Book review: The Secret War Factory
The Secret War Factory: Cowbridge Confidential By Charles Exton Authorhouse, 158 pages, Paperback. MAL.949 This slim volume is about, as the author describes, extraordinary [...]
‘Seeing the Monuments for the Trees’
Wiltshire Council’s Archaeology Service organises a project to clear vegetation from three of Wiltshire’s ancient monuments
Wiltshire has some of England’s most important and well-known ancient monuments. Many are designated as Scheduled Monuments, meaning they are legally protected due to their historical and archaeological importance. However, sometimes they can be harmed by natural processes such as tree and scrub growth, and burrowing animals, which can damage important buried archaeological remains and hide our history from view.
This winter a community project with local volunteers was organised by the Archaeology Service of Wiltshire Council to remove the scrub over three of Wiltshire’s ancient monuments. Community volunteers were organised by the Friends of Ancient Monuments (FOAM), part of the Council for British Archaeology Wessex, and the project was funded by Historic England.
My work experience with the Wiltshire Building Record
Hi, my name is Maddie and I have just completed year 10 at Abbeyfield School in Chippenham. I was very lucky due to family connections in July, to find a work experience placement with the Wiltshire Buildings Record (WBR) based at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham.
I started off my work experience by having a detailed tour of the History Centre. Ruth, the education officer kindly showed me and some year 12 students around all the different departments, also pointing out safety precautions we needed to keep in mind. After the tour, I was taken by the WBR to Malmesbury to see a couple of buildings which they had either recorded or were in the process of recording. It was an exciting opportunity for me to see the WBR in action when surveying a building. They showed me around a very old terrace house in the High Street which they were recording at the time. The owner was so kind to allow me to join the surveying team in her home.
High Street, Malmesbury
It was very impressive to see how the WBR team could estimate the age of parts of the house, from measurements, appearance and artistic style. I liked how everyone in the team had their own roles looking at different aspects of the house, with some looking at the structure of the building and others researching the history of the house. I had the chance to look in the roof space of the building, whilst Dorothy, who was in charge explained the different aspects of the roof to me. I never realised how much could be learnt about the age of the house from its roof.
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