24 July 2014, Hickleton Hall POW Project Day 4

The heat certainly seems to be staying with us at the moment, it has got hotter each day we have been working. Not that we're complaining, mind you! We arrived at site this morning to find that the cows had kindly left us a few presents overnight. They were probably just interested in the archaeology and decided to have a look for themselves!

The geophysics team were out in the woods, making good progress across the site.

Meanwhile, we had cleared the topsoil off hut base 7 and began the task of cleaning the concrete. This also involved cleaning out the post holes on the edge of the base.

Then the surface was trowelled back, to get all the lumps and clods of earth off.

The final thing was to take a photograph of the cleaned base for the archive.

Back over at hut base 6, Jonathan and Sue had finished cleaning their sondage down to the clinker pathway and the remains of the brick edge. So, this was also photographed for the records.

They then spent the rest of the day drawing the features in the trench.

Meanwhile, Jan and Vince had finished their recording so were being taught by Lauren how to level their drawing. We take levels across a drawing to show how high above sea level a particular point is, this helps us place the archaeology in a geographical position.

Their drawing was then finished off and it looked excellent:

Whilst all this was happening, Glynis began work on another sondage at the corner of base 6, this is to see if the small border and path go all the way around the hut base or are confined to the front only.

Back at base 7, Ant and Rob began opening a new sondage at the eastern end of the base, to see if there was a brick step here as well.

Ange and Russ did the same on the western edge of base 7.

By the end of the day the eastern sondage began to show signs of a brick step, so it was decided to expand this trench to two meters wide.

Tomorrow should show us if there are more brick steps around base 7, and what happens with the kerbing on base 6. It's getting very interesting, so, stay tuned for more updates tomorrow as we forge ahead with the work, also check out our Twitter and Facebook for more updates on Elmet and what we are up to!

23 July 2014, Hickleton Hall POW Project Day 3

We had another scorching day today, which also allowed us to be really busy on site. In the morning we had a visit from the Oaks Day Care Centre History Group. First, they laid out tapes for the geophysical survey in the woods.

Then helped us with the actual survey, taking it in turns to use the resistivity array.

They came for lunch with us back at HQ then spent the afternoon clearing off the topsoil from the next hut base we intend to record, number seven.

Meanwhile, Philip continued his recording of the summer-house remains.

And back at hut base six, another sondage was opened. A sondage is small trench intended to answer a specific question. This was dug at the western end of the concrete base to see if there was another entrance to the building along with the one we found yesterday.

Jonathan and Sue worked hard to reduce the level of this small trench down to the cinder paths and this is still a work in progress!

With the brick step we found yesterday it was decided to open the western sondage a little bit more, so the length was increased to two meters long. This revealed more bricks and something more surprising!

The brick step was bounded by two sandstone block kerbs, both of which appeared to enclose a small patch of garden soil. It is not unheard of that the huts in the camps were surrounded by a small plot of garden, to make them look nice. It appears that this is what we have here!

There was the also the remains of a cinder pathway leading into the hut's entrance, so all these features needed recording. We stopped excavation at this point and began the drawing and writing descriptions of all the archaeological features.

As all this activity was going on, Ant and Martin began work on a small feature associated with hut base six. It was a long concrete rectangular pit that needed investigation.

As the soil was cleared from the hole it became clearer that it was a vehicle inspection pit, one where a vehicle would drive over the top and a man would work in, without having to raise the vehicle off the ground.

This made sense as we know the huts by the side of this feature were for the transport personnel, so they were living and working in close proximity. As more of the feature was revealed it became apparent that it had been constructed with corrugated iron sheeting, with mixed concrete poured into a pre-dug hole. The corrugated iron had either been removed or rotted away, but its impression was still there.

We also found the remains of an vehicle axle that had been dumped in the backfill of the pit. 

Then this small feature was cleaned and photographed. It's quite important to record this, as it does not appear on a war time plan of the map that we have seen.

There was also some graffiti scratched into the concrete as it was drying, it's difficult to make out but it possibly says 'H I HILIES' and 'J D'. Possibly the men who poured the concrete. We wondered if they ever thought their names would become part of an archaeological excavation!

The vehicle pit was fully recorded by Ant, Martin and Lauren then we had to back fill the feature in case any cows fell in it over night!

So, we had a really busy day with a lot happening today. Following on from the button that was found yesterday, our friend, 'Concrete' Chris Kolonko confirmed that it is from a 'Collarless Shirt Other Ranks'; The official designation of an army undershirt. Kate Brown also found some time to make a drawing of the button and here it is:

Thanks for reading today's entry, stay tuned for more updates tomorrow as we forge ahead with the work, also check out our Twitter and Facebook for more updates on Elmet and what we are up to!

22 July 2014, Hickleton Hall POW Project Day 2

The team were greeted by another beautiful day today, the sun was shining again, all great weather for some great archaeology! The day began with clearing off the concrete of the hut base from yesterday.

It didn't take long before all the topsoil was removed and we could start to see the full extents of the concreted base.

The base is ringed by post holes, like this rectangular one that Ant found:

So the team sat down to clearing out each and everyone of them! There are over twenty in total, some of them had the remains of the wooden posts and nails still in situ.

The cleaning still wasn't finished, however, and it was then time to trowel clean the top of the base, this removes all the small clods of earth that have been trampled onto the concrete by us working on it.

This cleaning didn't take long and the hut base was so clean that you could almost eat your dinner off it!

The the site photos were taken of the base, these will be put into the report when all the work is finished. The scales are one meter long.

Another reason for the cleaning is that small features may be missed, such as these wavy lines, created by corrugated iron sheets being pressed into the concrete when it was wet. You can just make them out as faint lines below the scale rod and above the lip of the concrete.

Meanwhile, we turned our attention to the remains of the Summer House, to the south of the camp. This has fallen into a bad state of repair, so we are going to record it as part of the project. Here Martin and Ant begin cleaning the floor surface, so it can be drawn and recorded fully.

It didn't take long before they came down onto a set of flag stones that were still in good condition. Philip will record this structure, as he has a background in architecture!

Back at the base, Helen and Vince began excavated a small trench, known as a sondage, to attempt to understand the way in which the base was constructed. This small trench will save us digging a larger trench around the entire base and will answer the questions we are asking.

Very quickly they hit a set of bricks that had been used as an entrance step and a clinker surface, very similar to the paths that we encountered last year on the site. The entrance is exactly where we thought it might be, but was not visible on the previous hut base we excavated last year.

It was from the clinker layer that the find of the day was recovered; this British army shirt button! It was right on top of the path level and was probably swept out of the hut after falling off a soldier's shirt!

So, a busy day all in all, with lots of great results and lots of work done. There is more to come from this exciting project and we will be updating this blog daily, also check out our Twitter and Facebook for more updates on Elmet and what we are up to!

21 July 2014, Hickleton Hall POW Project Day 1

It is almost a year to the day that we began the Hickleton Hall POW camp project in 2013, so expectations were high for this new season of works! 

The background on the project can be found by CLICKING HERE.

We had a lot of volunteers ready and willing to lend a hand this year, so immediately the team began work on uncovering one of the many hut bases that cover the site.

It wasn't long before we saw our first glimpse of concrete, which looked very similar to the hut base that was uncovered last year.

Meanwhile, we decided to continue searching for any underground features that may have been connected to secret wartime operations on the site. We intend on doing this through the use of geophysical surveys across parts of the site.

The volunteers worked hard all morning and got large parts of the topsoil off the hut base, as you can see it looks quite plain, with very little in the surface of the concrete.

Early afternoon saw the start of the geophysical survey and two grids finished! A great start!

The morning will see us removing the remaining turf from the top of the concrete. Then we will have to clean up the surface and the edges of the structure to see if there are any post holes or other clues to the construction of the hut.

The find of the day was this embossed clay pipe bowl. Obviously, it is not from the Second World War, but shows that the site has been used since the post-medieval times and these kind of finds are to be expected mixed in with the soil!

The first day saw a great deal of work being done and a lot of turf moved by the volunteers. We even had two lads, Jack and Harry, our youngest participants at ten and six and a half years old. Unfortunately the lads won't be joining us again, but they were really good workers and really enjoyed themselves!

There is more to come from this exciting project and we will be updating this blog daily, also check out our Twitter and Facebook for more updates on Elmet and what we are up to!