Wessex Archaeology Rochester

Science in Archaeology Lectures at Mid Kent College

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:37:05 +0000

Mark WilliamsWessex Archaeology has begun working with Mid Kent College to develop a series of lectures based upon the use of science in archaeology.

The aim of these lectures is to demonstrate to science students that the traditional image of scientists in stuffy white lab coats with clip boards doesn’t always hold true. Archaeological scientists of are often out there in the field carrying out data collection in the mud and the rain. To be fair there we have our fair share of lab coats and clip boards too!

In December 2011, the first lecture, by Project Manager Mark Williams, highlighted some of the ways that the sciences are routinely used in archaeology; the purpose of the lecture was to pave the way for future more specialised talks. The lecture series will continue through 2012.

If you require any information regarding these lectures please contact Mark Williams (m.williams@wessexarch.co.uk).

Forthcoming Talk

Mark Williams will be presenting the preliminary results of some of work undertaken by Wessex Archaeology over the past year in a lecture on Friday 20th January 2012. This is part of the Maidstone Area Archaeological Group’s programme of presentations. Find out more about this talk.

Wessex Archaeology Rochester

Helping out at Pompeii

admin — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:54:41 +0000

As Britain moves into another tempestuous Autumn/Winter with our staff employed on numerous wet watching briefs and muddy evaluations we thought it would be a good opportunity to report on some of the research work conducted by our staff in more exotic (and sunnier) locations around the world this year.

The Forum at Pompeii

Daniel Jackson, one of our archaeologists based in Rochester, spent part of the summer working with the Via Consolare Project, a multinational team researching the ancient city of Pompeii, Italy. The VCP have been working in Pompeii since 2005 recording and analysing two important, and often overlooked, areas of the city. This year the focus of the research was Insula VII, 6, a city block close to the main forum of Pompeii which was heavily damaged during the Second World War.

Surveying the excavations in the front rooms of two shops in Insula VII.6

Using a combination of geophysical survey, historic building recording and targeted excavation the team have been able to reveal a large amount of information about the development of the area as well as providing an important permanent record of the current condition of the remains. The research has demonstrated that although the structural remains in the area were very badly affected by the bombing the subsurface stratigraphy appears to have remained well preserved. The investigations have produced important new information regarding not only the final phase of the city, prior to the eruption of Vesuvius in 79AD, but also the development and evolution of this key central area.

Wessex Archaeology is fully supportive of staff continuing academic research as it is often through this interaction between the commercial and academic communities that new techniques and technologies are developed and improved. By taking advantage of these advances in archaeological computing and fieldwork we can work more efficiently and offer innovative high tech solutions to our clients.

Wessex Archaeology Rochester

Rochester Regional Director Helen Glass becomes a Chartered Environmentalist

Helen Glass — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 08:20:07 +0000

Wessex Archaeology's Rochester Office Regional Director, Helen Glass, writes:

Archaeology at Heathrow Terminal 5:
Bronze Age harvestI recently became a Chartered Environmentalist with the Institution of Environmental Scientists. This might seem like a strange thing for someone in the archaeology and heritage profession to have, but I have spent a significant part of my career working in environmental consultancy and I recognise that it is essential for archaeologists in the 21^st century to work closely with other professionals from environmental professionals to engineers and planning consultants.

My background makes me keenly aware of the finite nature of the historic environment and of the need to communicate to clients, developers and colleagues that as with any other resource, every effort should be made to safeguard it. There are also things to be learned from our past as we look for ways to lower our impact on resources; can we live as lightly as our remote ancestors. Historic buildings that survive today also have things to teach about energy efficiency and material durability.

The social, economic and environmental contribution of heritage assets is often overlooked in the various definitions of sustainability. One of the key challenges for me is to provide clients with clear guidance on the benefit of sustainable solutions that preserve and enhance historic assets. As a cultural heritage professional my ability to interpret the past not just to document it, allows opportunities for the enhancement of social identity, economic development and environmental responsibility.

Neepawa Cottage, Monxton, Hampshire during recording

At Wessex we are embarking on a review of our environmental policies and practice to ensure that we deliver our work in a sustainable way and with our environmental responsibilities firmly in mind.

Wessex Archaeology Rochester

New Rochester Office for Wessex Archaeology

Helen Glass — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 16:48:46 +0000

It’s exciting times for Wessex Archaeology in the south east region where our Maidstone office has now become our Rochester office. We have just moved to our new permanent home at Bridgewood House on the edge of Rochester. Mirroring the HQ in Salisbury, we are next to an airport, although the company plane will have to wait!

We are still settling in, unpacking boxes and deciding where everything should go but we’ll have everything straight soon and we look forward to welcoming you to Bridgewood House.

In the last six months we have almost doubled our staff numbers; it was useful to have a few extra pairs of hands to help with the move. So we are delighted to now have room to expand properly, enabling us to provide even better archaeology and heritage services to our clients and the community. At some 6,500 square feet we certainly have space for our expected future growth.

The expertise throughout Wessex Archaeology already allows us to offer a full range of services, but we are keen to add key specialised roles here at Rochester as soon as possible. We will shortly be appointing someone to develop our finds capability and other posts in built heritage.

New and ongoing projects include pipelines and housing developments covering a range of interesting sites. Our Desk-based assessments team have been keeping busy with plenty of work doing research into the history of buildings and the landscape, while our work with communities is growing with workshops on researching the 19^th and 20^th century history of the Olympic Park and Medway Mosaics; a programme of workshops for the communities of the Medway Gap.

Bridgewood House: Historical Connections

The name of the building has historical connections, having been named after Fort Bridgewoods located just north of our new home. The fort was built in the late 19th century as one of a series that defended the landward approach to Chatham Dockyard. Fort Bridgewoods protected the approach from Maidstone and the flank of nearby Fort Borstal.

For more information about the history of the Fort visit:

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/f/fort_bridgewoods/

http://www.medwaylines.com/fortbridgewoods.htm

Bridgewood House

Wessex Archaeology Rochester

New Rochester Office for Wessex Archaeology as growth continues

admin — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 16:37:18 +0000

The Wessex Archaeology Maidstone office has moved to Rochester. The doubling of staff numbers meant that larger premises were needed and the new Bridgewood House office is on the outskirts of Rochester.

This new office is very much a statement of our commitment to the area. It will allow us to provide even better archaeology and heritage services to our clients and the community.

The expertise throughout Wessex Archaeology already allows us to offer a full range of services, and we will be increasing our capacity and capabilities at Rochester.

We look forward to welcoming you to Bridgewood House.

Bridgewood House
8 Laker Road
Rochester Airport Industrial Estate
Kent
ME1 3QX
Tel: +44(0)1622 739381

Find out more about our Rochester office.

Bridgewood House

Wessex Archaeology Rochester

Recording Chatham’s Military History

Katharine Barber — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:24:47 +0000

The common perception of archaeology is of digging holes in the ground, but here at Wessex that’s just one aspect of the service we provide to our clients. When new developments are proposed, the impact on the entire historic environment – above ground, below ground, and sometimes underwater – needs to be carefully considered.

As a Senior Heritage Consultant my role is to advise our clients on how to make best use of the historic environment within their schemes, and how to promote that idea through the planning process. One of the areas we specialise in is the recording of the built environment, and these skills were recently put to the test on a project at The White House in Chatham. This is a key development in the regeneration of the town – the building is in a highly prominent position, and is scheduled for refurbishment as part of the Chatham Dynamic Bus Station Scheme.

The White House, Chatham

The White House, built in 1816, has strong associations with Chatham’s military history, and our research found that the building sits within the footprint of ‘New Gun Wharf.’ The White House was occupied by military personnel and was in use as both offices and residential quarters throughout its history. The wharf originally formed an extension to the Ordnance Depot of the Chatham Historic Dockyard – a highly significant complex that is currently short-listed for World Heritage Status.

The White House is not a listed building, but the association with Chatham’s military history meant that it was a key facet in the planning process and decision. Having worked on a number of other projects in Chatham Dockyard, we were ideally placed to advise our clients on the best course of action to the satisfaction of all stakeholders. The final design for the Bus Station firmly retains The White House’s prominence in the modern streetscape and ensures its future for the next generation to enjoy.

Wessex Archaeology Rochester

Archaeological Open Days in Kent: Bishops Palace, Halling

Brendon Wilkins — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 08:33:34 +0000

In a David and Goliath battle between four test pits and an infrastructure behemoth, the Maidstone office hosted an open day at the Bishops Palace in Halling, going head to head with a similar open day on the East Kent access road. Great minds think alike, and the fact that the open days fell neatly between football fixtures (Saturday 21^st June) is probably no coincidence.

Directed by Michelle Collings and managed by Brendon Wilkins, the Rochester team were commissioned by Valley of Visions to excavate test pits prior to landscaping works intended to renovate this valued community amenity. The hope was to find evidence for a lost chapel associated with the palace – known from early maps but probably destroyed by later 19^th century industrial cement workings. With flyers going home with every school child and a noticeable buzz around the village, the pressure was on to find something worthy of an open day.

The event was a great success. Michelle Collings, Mark Williams and Helen Glass were all on hand to explain to visitors why we were digging and what we had learned. The medieval chapel remained elusive, but we did find evidence for the reuse of the palace as a work house in the 17^th century – a prince’s to pauper’s tale that fascinated our visitors, demonstrating that the later industrial phase might not have been as destructive as once presumed. As for David and Goliath, they’ve called this one a draw, and agreed to agree that no outreach and education job’s too big or too small.

Wessex Archaeology Rochester

Valley of Visions

Mark Williams — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:18:44 +0000

Thanks to the Icelandic Volcano, I was lucky enough to be invited to take part in a recent project organised by the team behind the Valley of Visions project in Kent. One of my colleagues Katharine Barber, our standing buildings specialist had been asked to speak at the launch of a new initiative called Medway Mosaics when she found herself stranded by the ash cloud in Bangkok. The project is designed to encourage people in the Medway Gap area to record their own heritage and to develop their own interests, and I was more than happy to step into her shoes.

Medway Mosaics is led by Valley of Visions (in this case Tay Arnold, the Community Training and Education Officer) in partnership with Kent County Council Heritage Conservation Department (Wendy Rogers, Senior Archaeological Officer). The day itself took the form of a conference, with brief presentations by leading experts followed by workshops on recording Cultural Heritage. The workshop themes included building recording, landscape analysis, oral history and interrogating the county Historic Environment Record.

This was an excellent opportunity to explain the principles that underlie development-led archaeology to a genuinely interested audience, and made quite a refreshing change from my day job - the cut and thrust of commercial project management.

Medway Mosaics is a very exciting project, and something that Wessex Archaeology will continue to support. Look out for further updates about Medway Mosaics here on this blog, including a forthcoming day school by Katharine Barber (volcanoes permitting!).

Mark Williams

Wessex Archaeology Rochester

Maidstone Regional Manager Writes

Helen Glass — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 12:05:12 +0000

Due to the success of our office in Maidstone, in December 2010 we moved to much larger premises offering our full range of archaeological services in Rochester, Kent.

Original article (June 2010):

As the new Regional Manager for Wessex Archaeology based at Maidstone and covering the entire south east region, there is a great deal to learn.

I am getting to know the people at Wessex Archaeology and specifically the team here at Maidstone; they are a talented group. I have been made very welcome and they have been patient while I learn the systems and procedures of a new company. It is a big change from my role at Arup and my work on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (High Speed 1), but I am enjoying it immensely. There is a great opportunity to build on all the work that Wessex Archaeology has undertaken over the years in the south east and to really get involved in the life of the archaeological and cultural heritage community here. We recently presented to the Kent County Council (KCC) Heritage Conservation team, introducing the team and the new regional structure of Wessex Archaeology, as well as re-introducing me to KCC in my new role.

In order to ensure that we give the best possible service to clients, curators and the community we are actively seeking feedback from everyone to understand their needs and requirements; there is always something that can be improved.

We are already looking for new offices to provide the facilities we need for the expanding team and for the services we offer together with those we propose to offer soon. It’s a bit like looking for a new house, sometimes you like the location, but it’s too far from the amenities you need, or it’s close to friends but too far from work. Trying to find a combination that suits the office functions like research, management and admin, with fieldwork and post excavation processing, is challenging, but it is a good one to have.

We have recently advertised for more staff to meet the demand for all kinds of fieldwork from watching briefs in North Kent and Thurrock, Essex, to geo-archaeological recording in Ashford and excavations in Cambridgeshire and Sussex.

It looks like being a busy summer.

Wessex Archaeology Rochester

Further Expansion in the Maidstone Office of Wessex Archaeology

admin — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 08:39:39 +0000

Due to the success of our office in Maidstone, in December 2010 we moved to much larger premises offering our full range of archaeological services in Rochester, Kent.

Original article (June 2010):

Helen Glass has recently joined Wessex Archaeology to lead our team at Maidstone as Regional Manager. Helen comes to us from ARUP and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. Her background is complimented by Brendon Wilkins (Senior Project Manager), another new addition to the company, who has returned to the UK after spending a number of years managing infrastructure archaeology projects in Ireland for Headland Archaeology.

Helen and Brendon have set up a new blog to cover business news and events from the south-east region and plan to update it frequently.

Wessex Archaeology Maidstone offers a full range of archaeological services, so feel free to get in touch to discuss your requirements.

Please contact our Rochester Office for further information.