Category: Boxford Big Dig 2015 (Page 1 of 6)

The Triumph of Bellerophon

5th March 2018 / boxfordparish

About 75 -80 people turned up for the postponed lecture given by Anthony Beeson. It was a triumph of scholarship and interest – packed full of comparisons of the mosaic with others in the Roman Empire – showing quite why the Boxford mosaic is indeed unique and a national treasure! We are now in the process of fundraising so that we can uncover the whole of the mosaic in the late summer of 2019 so if you can help with fundraising, especially with corporate sponsorship, please let us know. We are looking at finding £55000+ – this seems a lot but this time we will have to cover the villa to prevent damage to the mosaic from the elements as well as unwanted visitors. Donations left last night amounted to £161.50 so many thanks to all who contributed. Over £1000 has been raised from donations so far for the 2019 dig. (By the way someone left a very nice red and beige shawl/scarf with green tassels in the village hall last night – please email joy@appleton.uk.net if it was you.)

The Boxford History Project AGM will be held in the Heritage Centre on Monday 26th March at 7pm. We are looking for new committee members – if you are interested and there is plenty to interest – please email me.

Many thanks.

Joy Appleton

Boxford History Project

Anthony Beeson Lecture on Boxford’s Roman Mosaic

6th February 2018 / boxfordparish

DCIM101MEDIADJI_0052.JPG Photo courtesy of Richard Miller

We are very fortunate that one of the leading UK iconographers, Anthony Beeson, will be giving a talk at Boxford Village Hall on Saturday 3rd March at 7pm entitled The Triumph of Bellerophon. The Boxford Mosaic, a unique survival from Roman Britain. Places will be limited on a first come first served basis because we anticipate a full house. So please reply to joy@appleton.uk.net This mosaic was discovered last summer by locals supported by local archaeological groups, overseen by professionals and has been described by experts as the most important discovery of a Roman mosaic in Britain in the last 50 years.

For those of you who might be interested in the background of our speaker, who after his visit to the site last year conducted an incredibly thorough research looking at mosaics throughout the Roman world.

Anthony Beeson was born in 1948 into a well established Brighton family. Having worked at the Courtauld Institute of Art Library, he moved to Bristol in 1972 to become Fine Art Librarian, and over the following thirty-seven years developed the Bristol Art Library into one of the finest British public collections of art books. He is a noted classical iconographer who has written extensively in academic journals, lectured on Romano-British art and appeared on the television programme Time Team.

The Young Archaeologists from Sunflowers at Grafton

16th October 2017 / boxfordparish

Many hands make light work and all that – so we were pleased to have the primary aged children from Grafton’s Holiday Club to lend a hand – greatly assisted by Lindsey of course, at this summer’s Boxford dig. They came on a very auspicious day when the mosaic experts visited the site, so stuck close to Matt when taking a look for themselves.

We made the Nationals!!

4th September 2017 / boxfordparish

Just in case you hadn’t heard, the mosaic story has hit the national papers and ITV and BBC even Russia Today!! Matt was on the Meridian News this evening with a few seconds of video of Alice explaining the mosaic at the Open Day – video courtesy of Richard. What a world!! The photos from the blog have been used by the papers too. Hard copies of the Times, Telegraph and Mail are available but the rest as far as we know is online – John even found a Greek post!

More Photos of the Boxford Dig 2017

1st September 2017 / boxfordparish

Photos on the blog are courtesy of Steve, Lindsey, Joy, Richard, Helen, Jill and Mike

The site

The smaller building

Mike’s Photos of the Open Day & End of the Project

29th August 2017 / boxfordparish

The Law 1

A busy Open Day

The Law 2

R The Law 2

Viewing the Mosaic

The end of a great day

How many archaeologists does it take…………

Om……………….

Lindsey contemplating a great week

The Mosaic revealed

Roman Boxford Open Day

27th August 2017 / boxfordparish

Buffet lunch for volunteers – a small token of thanks for all their hard work ………..from the Boxford History Project

We estimate that 250 visitors came to the Open Day – the marquee was the visitor centre!

Even the police force turned up to show their interest and offer help

Matt explaining the site to locals

Richard getting the light just right for the last overhead photos of trench three open.

Matt and Alice still recoding as the sun goes down after the Open Day

The trenches are backfilled now ……..to keep everything secure and preserved. Hopefully we will be back on this site to uncover more treasures. On a personal note, I have to say that it has been an absolute pleasure to work with this group – from novices to professionals. It must be something to do with being covered in mud a large proportion of the time! If you have any good photos of the Open Day, please email them to: joy@appleton.uk.net. Some have been forwarded to the Newbury Weekly but I don’t know if they will be included in this week’s paper. Many thanks. Joy

Photos courtesy of Joy, Lindsey and Richard

Roman Boxford Dig Day 11

25th August 2017 / boxfordparish

Record…….record…….. record …………and tidy up your trench! Have to get everything ready on site for the Open Day between 2-4pm on Saturday.

Another surprise today – Agatha and Alice find another plunge pool in the bath suite. It’s likely to be the tepidarium as Lindsey had already dug out another plunge pool thought to be the frigidarium. But we have not got time to dig it out…………………maybe another year?

We hope to have lots of visitors tomorrow between 2-4pm so that they can see all the work that has been put in and the stunning results! Well done to everyone!

Photos courtesy of Joy

Roman Boxford Dig Day 10

23rd August 2017 / boxfordparish

More mud ! Most of the finds come out covered in thick mud so Barbara and Chris are trying their best to clean it off so we can determine what we are actually looking at!!

Cleaned off finds sieved by Janet – but this time it’s “dem bones, dem bones!!! The lumps of mud on the left are what these fragments were in. The bones are not human but a broken skull and vertebrae of animals yet to be determined.