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Chedworth Roman Villa is undergoing a major transformation. Despite being one of England’s largest and best-preserved Roman villas, it was poorly understood. Past site reports had been lost, and previously excavated portions had been reburied. The National Trust has therefore launched a major project to re-explore the site. The results, as our cover picture reveals, are proving to be glorious.
We then go in search of more lost archaeology with Sean Kingsley, who takes us deep under the western English Channel to investigate the sinking of the Victory. The greatest warship of the early Georgian age of sail, the Victory’s disappearance was one of Britain’s biggest maritime mysteries. The finger of blame was pointed at Mother Nature’s tempestuous forces, and at the apparent ineptitude of a lighthouse keeper. Archaeology, however, tells a rather different story.
Back on land, we visit the bucolic Berkeley Castle, once the setting of a catalogue of dramas, including Edward II’s grisly murder in 1327. Bristol University archaeologists have been hard at work just outside the castle grounds. Though their aim has been to find one of England’s greatest medieval minsters, they have in fact uncovered 1,500 years of history – from the Romans to the Civil War – all within a single trench.
Finally, we visit Bristol, to consider why its hall houses were so popular among the city’s late medieval burghers. All is revealed by Chris Catling, as he delves into Roger Leech’s compelling research on the city’s medieval houses, the first study of its type.
Good reading!
Our contributors this month
CHEDWORTH ROMAN VILLA MARTIN PAPWORTH Martin is director of the Phase Two Chedworth project, and Regional Archaeologist of the National Trust’s South West Region. For more on NT archaeology, see archaeologynationaltrustsw. wordpress.com
THE SINKING OF THE VICTORY SEAN KINGSLEY Sean is the Director of Wreck Watch Int., London, and a specialist in marine archaeology, deep-sea shipwrecks, trade, economics, and the Byzantine world. He has been working on the wreck of the Victory since 2008.
BERKELEY CASTLE STUART PRIOR AND MARK HORTON Stuart is Senior Teaching Fellow in Archaeological Practice at the University of Bristol; he researches Medieval Archaeology and Castle Studies. Mark is Professor in Archaeology at Bristol, working on global historical and maritime sites.
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