20 Tuesday Aug 2019
Posted in Education, schools, children, ArchFest, Special Events
Earlier in the summer Volunteers were again invited to join University of Southampton students in producing art work inspired by the annual excavations at Old Sarum. Here are some of the results…
(Click on any of the photos above to enlarge)
06 Tuesday Aug 2019
Posted in Collections
A student on her work experience at Salisbury Museum (Charlotte; see her blog below) has done some interesting research on a snuff box which is part of one of our collections…
The object I have chosen is a souvenir coffin shaped snuffbox from the 19th century. I chose this object because of its immediate irony and dark humour, as well as the intriguing local history behind it.
Most wooden snuffboxes were made by country craftsmen, which can make them hard to date, and have less delicate designs. Country craftsmen had no need to keep up with fashions, so many snuffboxes are shaped and decorated with humour or simple design, as opposed to the latest style. Whilst the shape of a coffin is initially shocking, it is not unusual; there were quite a few snuffboxes shaped as coffins, some even containing miniature skeletons. The snuff powder these skeletons would be replaced with would serve as a macabre reminder of the dust we all return to. A few snuffboxes also bore engravings of skulls, further exemplifying this surprisingly dark humour.
This particular snuffbox in the form of a coffin, was made by Benjamin Best of Tisbury, from a piece of the ‘Parliament Tree’ allegedly felled sometime in the late 19th century. It bears the inscription: OLD SARUM DIED 7th JUNE 1832 AGED 584.’ Here the reference to the death of Old Sarum is about the passing of the Reform Bill, the local political history that makes this object so fascinating.
The Reform Bill was passed in the 1830s, and deprived Old Sarum of the right to return two members to Parliament. Old Sarum had retained this right previously, even though the town had been completely deserted for many years. By the 19th century, the town was often known as a ‘rotten borough’, or ‘pocket borough’; a place where a small number of electors voted under the control of their landlord (in this case, because it had been abandoned for Salisbury).
This box not only relates to the ‘death’ of Old Sarum in writing, but it is made from the ‘Parliament tree’, beneath which the polling tent would have been set up. The tree is also said to have been situated on ‘election acre’ although there is not a decided location for it. A second snuff box was made from this tree. Inscribed: OLD SARUM DESERTED IN YEAR 1217, DISFRANCHISED JUNE 7 1832’, which bears a similar message to the coffin shaped one I have chosen.
I find the coffin shaped snuff boxes really interesting, as they are the product of a certain type of dark humour and irony that many of us would consider to be more modern. Snuff boxes shaped as coffins are an unusual combination of fear and fascination with death, and a morbid joke.
This specific box’s relation to the Reform Bill and subsequent ‘death’ of Old Sarum, makes it all the more engaging. There were very mixed emotions surrounding the reform bill, so this symbol of the death of the old town may have been like a political statement, not just an ironic souvenir. I would be interested to know how the maker of it, Benjamin Best, felt about the bill.
I think that this snuffbox is an interesting object in itself, but also with an engaging message, and story behind it.
09 Tuesday Jul 2019
Posted in Special Events
Southampton University students have been in the museum today. Having been excavating at Old Sarum they have a ‘cross curricula’ opportunity to create art using the history and landscape as their inspiration.
From today until Friday 19 July, Volunteers are invited to take part in these workshops. They happen every weekday and we are welcome at just one, or more, from 10am to 4pm. Bookings via Bridget.
Some of us joined in last year and it was relaxing and fun. No previous experience needed. Almost like being young again!
14 Tuesday Aug 2018
Posted in ArchFest
Tags
Alex Langlands, Archaeology, Old Sarum, Stratford sub Castle, University of Southampton, University of Swansea, volunteer
Alex Langlands
We were lucky enough at the museum to have Alex Langlands speaking twice last month on the Old Sarum Landscape Project. He gave a talk for Volunteers on 18 July to nearly one hundred, and again over the Festival of Archaeology weekend to possibly 50 or more members of the public. This blogger went to both talks and hung on every word!
The Project took off in 2014, a re-evaluation of the nature and extent of the archaeology of Old Sarum and its environs, with a focus on Roman, Saxon and medieval phases. A video of Alex Langlands talking about the project in 2017 is available here. Part of this season’s work (a collaboration between the University of Southampton and the University of Swansea) involved an investigation of the western suburb of Old Sarum. There was what was described as “a fair settlement” in a 16th century document, and early maps show buildings at ‘Newton Westgate’ (new town by west gate!). It looks as if there was a small but busy ‘town’ both sides of what is now Phillips Lane, and in the area of Stratford Road, probably serving the old Cathedral and the clergy at Old Sarum. An area to the east of Old Sarum has been better excavated but little is so far known about this western development.
These days, archaeologists often rely largely on archive material (such as the 16th c document and old maps mentioned above) and on non-intrusive surveys (eg field walking and magnetic surveys, sometimes known as ‘geophys’!) However they still like to excavate, if necessary, and given the chance, even though, ultimately of course, digging is destructive. Excavation has revealed medieval and earlier, Roman, building and 10th – 13th century pottery.
Surveying at the beginning of the season – remember a chilly wet spring?
Surveying at the site continuing
Excavations below the outer walls of Old Sarum
Some of the finds – a lot of pottery always indicates domestic buildings
(all photos above from the Old Sarum Landscape Project facebook page. Video is from the Stratford sub Castle village website.)
Salisbury Museum PAS volunteer Alix Smith assists the excavation by using a metal detector over the spoil heaps, to see if anything has been missed.
07 Tuesday Aug 2018
Posted in Education, schools, children, Special Events
Tags
Archaeology, Art, Museum, Old Sarum, University of Southampton, University of Swansea, Volunteers
As part of the Old Sarum Landscapes Project 2018, a collaboration between the Universities of Southampton and of Swansea, art sessions were organised in the museum earlier in July. Work by University students, Volunteers and children from Stratford sub Castle CE Primary school appears below, with apologies that we couldn’t include it all!
17 Tuesday Jul 2018
Posted in Special Events
Tags
Archaeology, Art, Museum, Old Sarum, University of Southampton, University of Swansea, Volunteers
The Old Sarum Landscapes Project, a collaboration between the University of Southampton and the University of Swansea, is continuing its excavations near Stratford sub Castle this summer (more news of this later) and we look forward to the talk by Alex Langlands this week on this very topic.
Meanwhile, as part of the project, Volunteers and students from Southampton Archaeology have been collaborating for more than a week now on an art activity associated with the project.
This Volunteer, always happy to have a go with pen, pencil or brush, arrived one day last week, and with another Volunteer and a talented young History student, Sam, and were introduced to things by Luke Sollars. Luke is a freelance archaeologist who is usually to be found in Egypt, in an office behind the temple at Karnak (!), but he is also a bit of an artist.
The room was piled high with papers, paints, glue, scissors, pastels, pencils, pens and ink. At first the brief seemed very odd – produce artwork based on Old Sarum or other archaeological landscapes showing the link with the archaeological methods and processes. We all got going, however, and the remarkable results can be seen this weekend at ArchFest, and at the Society of Antiquaries Open Day on 27th July.
This was another lovely opportunity for Salisbury Museum Volunteers. Did you miss it?
10 Tuesday Jul 2018
Posted in Special Events
Alex Langlands – photo by Russell Sach
From Bridget Telfer: I am very pleased and excited to announce that our next Collections in Focus talk will be an exclusive talk given by Dr Alex Langlands about the archaeological project he has been working on at Old Sarum. This talk will take place on Wednesday 18 July 2018 at 11am at the museum. Booking is essential – please RSVP to me. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
The title of the talk is: ‘Old Sarum, New Perspectives: Excavations in the western suburbs’.
In this lecture archaeologist and historian Dr Alex Langlands will review some of the evidence for Old Sarum in the post-Roman and early medieval period. Drawing on old maps, place-names, archaeological excavations, geophysical survey and aerial photographs, a complex picture of urban development can be observed in the area immediately surrounding the hill-fort. Whilst archaeological excavation has been undertaken in the eastern suburbs – given a brief review in this talk – the evidence for occupation on the western side of the will be explored in more depth. King William’s desire to create a centre of Norman power at Old Sarum are clear – with the Oath of Salisbury and the creation of a new diocese at Old Sarum representing a bold attempt to bring church, state and royal power together. But was William choosing Old Sarum as a blank canvas upon which to paint his ambitions or was the hill-fort already a centre of royal power in the late Anglo-Saxon period?
21 Tuesday Nov 2017
Posted in Uncategorized
Please see last week’s blog about the tunnel at Old Sarum.
Alan writes “Regarding the Old Sarum tunnel, the museum has 51 of Austin’s photographs concerning the tunnel…Austin Underwood himself is in some of the photos!”
Notice the graffiti from decades before. Notice also the dowser or diviner, with his ‘Y’ shaped branch. Diviners have been used to search for water, graves, mines and tunnels over the ages. As recently as the 1960s the US army used them to seek out the enemy underground in Vietnam. Presumably this gentleman was employed to try and follow the line of the Old Sarum tunnel under the walls.
If any local readers have any stories about these events, we should love to hear from you.
14 Tuesday Nov 2017
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
This story has been revived for us by Volunteer Alan Crooks who was, in turn, reminded of it on the recent SALOG visit to Old Sarum.
These are notes taken after reading a Salisbury Journal article by Austin Underwood, dated October 13 1988.
This blog is written on the 60th anniversary of the rediscovery of the tunnel (November 1957) by Austin Underwood and others.
Site of collapse over part of tunnel today. Photo by Alan Crooks.
The tunnel was originally discovered in 1795, running from the outer bailey into the countryside on the north side of the site. Severe weather had caused a collapse near the sealed up entrance. Although the local farmer tried to discourage visitors, it became well known for a while and was much visited but was again sealed and largely forgotten until the 1950s when a group of local historians discovered it again.
The description in the Salisbury Journal article of that 1957 find is almost as exciting as that of Carter’s breaking through into Tutankhamun’s tomb. The men crawled in to the tiny entrance to the tunnel, despite their wives’ pleas not to, and in a way that health and Safety simply would not allow today.
They discovered a tunnel which was 7 feet wide in places. It was full of two hundred year old grafitti – much the same as any you would see today, reports Austin Underwood. After walking in for 57 feet they could go no further. Further exploration or conservation was out of the question as funds are never available.
The purpose of the tunnel, and indeed, who built it, is not known. It could have been a sally port (allowing defenders to exit secretly and come up behind the attackers) or simply somewhere from which the castle’s inhabitants could retreat). It might have been built in Roman or Norman times, probably not earlier.
Click here for a very detailed account of the archaeology and history of Old Sarum
07 Tuesday Nov 2017
Posted in Special Events
Tags
Archaeology, English Heritage, News, Old Sarum, SALOG, Stonehenge, volunteer, Volunteering, Volunteers, Wiltshire
SALOG Volunteers’ Visit to Old Sarum and Stonehenge Visitor Centre
Just before the museum closed for the day one evening in mid-October, I was intrigued to see Professor Mike Parker-Pearson of the Stonehenge Riverside Project deep in conversation with somebody in the café. My curiosity was satiated the following day when watching BBC TV ‘South Today’ during which it was reported that he was due to open a new exhibition at the Stonehenge Visitors Centre, ‘Feast! Food at Stonehenge’, which invites visitors to explore the diet and lifestyle of the people that built Stonehenge; and the culture, rituals and identity of food in prehistory (see photos of reconstructed buildings at Stonehenge, below).
This was the subject of the second part of a SALOG Volunteers social afternoon on Monday 30th October.
On arrival at the Stonehenge Visitors Centre, Volunteers from Salisbury Museum, Wiltshire Museum, English Heritage, the National Trust and Wessex Archaeology were given time to mingle and to enjoy coffee and biscuits before being given a ten minute introduction to the exhibition by the Interpretation Officer, Hannah Brown. We were then allowed to explore the exhibition at leisure.
By way of background, the objective of the Stonehenge Riverside Project was to examine the relationship between the Stonehenge stones and surrounding monuments and features, including the River Avon, Durrington Walls, the Cursus, the Avenue, Woodhenge, and various burial mounds, and nearby standing stones. The main aim of the project was to test the hypothesis that Stonehenge was a monument dedicated to the dead, whilst Woodhenge & Durrington Walls, two miles away, were monuments to the living and more recently deceased.
It is believed that the builders of Stonehenge settled in nearby Durrington Walls in the 25th century B.C. and excavations of this site have revealed an abundance of food waste, stone tools and pottery, which are thus available for analysis.
From these artifacts, scientists have been able to show that our ancestors were bringing animals from as far away as Scotland, some 500 miles away, suggesting that Stonehenge was an important site known right across Britain at this time, and that people were travelling these sorts of distances in order to participate both in the building of the monument, which occurred in several phases, and in midwinter feasts. Some discussion ensued as to the logistics of driving animals these distances, and the time it would take.
As a chemist, I was particularly interested in the techniques used to establish these facts. For example, animal bones can be identified by inspection and it is clear that our Neolithic ancestors at Stonehenge were deriving meat from a variety of sources: cattle, pigs, sheep and goats. The distances travelled were established by analysing the ratios of strontium isotopes in their teeth by the technique of Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy. Strontium compounds, which mimic calcium compounds and therefore enter animals’ teeth, are present in the soil and enter the animals through the food chain. The particular ratios of strontium isotopes identified reflect the underlying geology where the animal once lived. As a chemist and, latterly a chemistry teacher, I was impressed by the clarity of the diagrams used to illustrate these points, and would have been delighted to have had this example and diagram illustrate this analytical technique (Fig 1).
Figure 1. Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy of strontium compounds in animals’ teeth
Another point of interest for me was the fact that Neolithic people were lactose-intolerant, and had to turn milk into products such as cheese and yoghurt before consumption (Fig 2 below):
This reminded me of a particularly popular experiment I devised for Key Stage 3 Science students, where we used rennet to curdle milk to make junket. We flavoured the product with strawberries and were able to consume it afterwards, having taken appropriate H&S precautions during the preparation. Again, this would have been a useful illustration to have used at the time.
Preparation of yogourt
Earlier there was a visit to the inner bailey at Old Sarum.
Being only a mile from my home I am very familiar with this site. Nevertheless, some new things were brought to my attention, for example a ‘mason’s mark’ on a stone block in the east range of the courtyard house (Fig 3).
A question was asked and some discussion ensued about the little-known tunnel which once existed through the northern rampart, the site of which is still visible (Fig 4).
The English Heritage ‘Old Sarum’ guidebook tells us that this tunnel was first discovered in 1795. This discovery was recorded in the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine’ of February 2nd, 1795. Following this, the tunnel was much visited by members of the public for several years before being re-sealed in 1822.
The tunnel was re-excavated in 1957 by the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works (now Department of the Environment) assisted by members of the archaeology section of the Salisbury and District Field Club, including Davids Algar, Sanders and Truckle, during which, among other things, examples of dated 18th Century obscene Anglo-Saxon graffiti were found.
Nobody is quite sure who built this tunnel, or for what reason. Its construction was apparently beyond the skills of Iron Age Man, but various people have speculated that it was built by the Romans or the Normans. One theory, which was also that espoused by our EH Guide during this visit, is that it was a ‘sally-port’ to enable an enemy force to be attacked from the rear or, if the city were besieged, to provide a means of escape from it.
A fuller description of this tunnel and the 1957 excavation can be found in The [Salisbury] Journal of 13th October, 1988, ‘’Old Sarum’s Secret Tunnel’ .
By Volunteer Alan Crooks Monday 30th October 2017
