A trip down to Worcestershire for the launch meeting of the Olivers Mound project proved very interesting. The morning was taken up by a trip by myself and Treasurer of the Society Rod Sproat and AOC Archaeology's Edmund Simons, who insisted on trudging through the woods! I took the opportunity to have a look at the site again (now full of nettles - ouch!).
The launch meeting for went off wonderfully. About 40 people showed up in all. Andy Boucher from Archaeological Investigations talked through his geophysical results, the most promising ones being the resistivity results which show the areas where the 1920s excavations took place and also a very high result in an area which may contaoin another tower. Rollo Gillespie from the Earth Heritage Trust was also on hand to talk about the geology of the area and the detailed geological study that will be undertaken before the dig.
The last 2 weeks in May seem to be the preferred time of the dig, and there may be a few school visits (yikes!) and also some civil war reinactment (the woods being part of a Royalist stronghold by those under the traitor Charles Stuart ).
There's great rivalry between the groups as well. 'The Worcestershire Militia? You don't want those cowboys, you want to go with us, the Fairfax Fighters.' I kid you not. And they all hate the Sealed Knot 
2007-12-16 @ 21:57