Laurence and the Tunnel

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Laurence McGowan, Old Sarum, Salisbury, Tunnel

Received yesterday from Laurence McGowan..

I was astonished, in the nicest possible way, when I stumbled across this blog with its accompanying photos. I was a volunteer on the tunnel dig. As a schoolboy I became obsessed with archaeology. I lived near Downton, and when the Roman villa was discovered there I hung around enough so that eventually, when it was clear I was both interested and not going anywhere in a hurry, the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works Philip Rahtz archaeologist, who was leading the dig, found me things to do.

The following year, I was doing the same, mostly washing flint finds, with a team from Cambridge who were investigating the Mesolithic site that Rahtz’s team had discovered whilst investigating the road that led into the villa. Then the following year, I got news that Philip was hoping to find and investigate the Old Sarum tunnel over a weekend. I spent the first day with him. Whilst trying to locate the tunnel, the grave of a small Romano British child was found in a shallow grave. Presumably, from the bracelets, a girl. Apart from museum exhibits, the first real skeleton I had seen and I found it quite moving.

It took the best part of that Saturday to uncover the tunnel entrance but eventually a chink was opened, enough for a torchlit glimpse inside for a few. The dowser in the photograph was Ralph Whitlock, a local farmer from Pitton, well known broadcaster, author a general authority on all things rural. Along with others, this photograph appeared in The Times and drew an immediate shocked demand from the powers that be at Old Sarum, those that were to become in time English Heritage presumably, wanting to know why Philip had allowed such superstitious unscientific methods to be used on a dig they had paid for. Much sweet talking needed from Philip!

Anyway, towards the end of the day, enough headway, and indeed headroom, had been cleared to enable people to crawl in for look. Everyone, that is except me. I had been helping all day the same as all the admittedly older, others and was frankly more than a bit miffed. Especially as everyone appeared to have something to say in hushed tones when they came out. Disgruntled, I truthfully announced that I would have to leave soon to dash down Castle Road to the bus station and get home. There followed glances cast towards me and a huddle. After this I was coyly handed a torch and told I could have a quick peek before I left.

The reluctance was immediately apparent. Written on the ceiling in candle soot was every four letter word, similarly doubtless employed by the adolescents of Salisbury today and no doubt from time immemorial! Philip, it seems, bless him, was trying to protect my presumed innocence and perhaps more general embarrassment. The boy hauling the rope in one of the photos looks like dead ringer for me at that age though I can’t be certain as I’m sure I had my BWS school blazer on, and feeling in mortal dread of getting it covered in chalk. I’m also perplexed as to why the said sooty inscriptions don’t appear in the photo. Had they cleaned them off overnight for propriety’s sake or fear of really creating an uproar in The Times? Who knows. Anyway, in his biography Living Archaeology, Rahtz describes them discreetly as ‘very rude’.

My totally unrealistic dreams of becoming an archaeologist obviously came to naught though after an earlier career in map making and photogrammetry I spent the last 40 years and more of my working life as a potter. So, perhaps in a way I’ve been doing my bit to provide shards for future excavators to muse over and stick back together. By chance, last year one of my pieces was displayed in the museum as part of a Wiltshire Artists exhibition, on loan from Swindon’ Museum and Art Gallery.

Kind regards
Laurence McGowan

This a wonderful item from Laurence and we are so pleased he has been in contact to pass on this story. Thank you.

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  Austen Underwood

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This is a great excuse to put up these Austin Underwood photographs again. Thanks, as always, to Alan Clarke for making them available to us.

Inspired Art

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Archaeology, Art, Old Sarum, University of Southampton, Volunteers

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…

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  This one moves!

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(Click on any of the photos above to enlarge)

Volunteer Selina Chudleigh (centre) and others at work

The Connection Between Snuff, Parliament and Coffins? Read on…

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Old Sarum, Reform Act 1832, Snuff boxes

For a better picture and description, go here

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 19^th 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 19^th century. It bears the inscription: OLD SARUM DIED 7^th 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 19^th 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.

Snuff boxes in the form of coffins are surprisingly common!

Free Art for Volunteers, and Others

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Art, Old Sarum, University of Southampton, Volunteers

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!

Old Sarum Landscape Project 2018

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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.

Art at ArchFest 2018

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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!

 

 

 

Archaeology and Art at Salisbury Museum

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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?

Alex Langlands – not to be missed!

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Alex Langlands, Archaeology, Museum, Old Sarum, Volunteers

Alex Langlands – photo by Russell Sach

VOLUNTEER EVENT

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?

AUSTIN UNDERWOOD’S PHOTOS OF THE TUNNEL AT OLD SARUM tracked down by Volunteer Alan Clarke

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Archaeology, Austin Underwood, Old Sarum, Salisbury, Tunnel

Austen Underwood

 

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.

The Tunnel at Old Sarum

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Archaeology, Old Sarum, Salisbury, volunteer

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