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Showing posts from January, 2022

Children explore their local history

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Our project is all about young people exploring and discovering our local history and the six people from the village who suffered martyrdom for their beliefs. Young people from Great Bentley primary school learned about three of these, William, Alice and Rose, on the site of their cottage, now occupied by a cricket pavilion. But the north wind blew so strongly and so cold, that we shivered at the side of the building. One of the teachers was interested to find out a Young Archaeologists Club could be started at the school, with the support of the British Council of Archaeology which runs the club s  nationwide.    

We will show the reach of the "Treacherous Tudor Web" on this map

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 Colchester YAC will use this map of Essex from 1610 for part of their online resource.  At their next meeting they will find all the places on the map where people "caught in a treacherous Tudor web" lived and died. Their trade or situation in life, was as priest, labourer, weaver, spinster, apprentice, fuller, apothecary, widow, shearman, curate, tallow chandler, sawyer, carpenter, painter, blind man, wife, smith, servant, maid servant, labourer, linen draper, husbandman, herdsman, brewer, tailor, silkweaver and gentleman.

YAC volunteers make a trip to Great Bentley

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 None of us had expected a coronavirus variant to make us alter our plans for December and January meetings.  Although members were invited to join us, it was two Colchester YAC volunteer organisers who met up with a tour guide at Great Bentley. We saw the site of the cottage William and Alice Munt and Alice's daughter Rose Allin lived in. There is a cricket pavilion on the site today. The view over the village's large green may not have changed much. There is a plaque to the memory of their martyrdom outside the pavilion. There is no memorial to them in st Mary's church. Their fate was determined because at that time, their beliefs were at odds with Queen Mary and the church authorities.  

Young Archaeologists embark on research

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 To take our project forward, club members have offered to study the reformation, research and write the stories of all the religious martyrs in Colchester and some in other parts of the county. For locations on our trail,  the ruins of the Augustinian St Botolph's Priory, the substantial gateway and walls of St John's Abbey, the wall and a statue niche from Grey Friars are all visual reminders of the social upheaval of the Tudor period.  Archaeologists  have excavated these sites revealing more information about them. 

Spotting Tudor buildings in Colchester

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West Stockwell Street, Colchester, where 1990s Essex Design guide styles blend in with medieval and Tudor buildings.  It was frosty when Colchester's Young Archaeologists' Club took a walk to devise a trail for their project. Masks and hand-gel were the order of the day, especially in the town hall and Colchester Castle.  Five pre-pandemic members joined with four new members and one who came to his first meeting. Four made the journey from neighbouring counties. Other YACs couldn't make it, because of Covid,  other ailments or family events. One is concentrating on GCSEs.  

Looking up the stories of the Colchester Martyrs in Colchester Castle

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 One of our YAC volunteer organi s er s look s up the  s torie s of the Colche ster Martyr s in an 18th century edition of Foxe s Book of Martyr s which belong s to the family of a YAC member. Hi s Dad brought it to show u s in a rucksack and gallantly lugged it all around our trail before revealing it in Colche ster Castle.

Colchester YAC explore their project trail

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Colche ster Young Archaeologi st s' Club met at Colche ster Ca stle and took a walk to identify the building s and site s of the town' s many martyr s. From thi s they will devi se a trail of the hi storic town which could be followed. We took the Speed map with u s from 1610 to identify the place s. Back in the ca stle for much needed refre shment s on thi s fro sty morning, we vi sited the pri son s and read a short play about the martyr s in there.

Colchester is not just about Romans

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  Choosing the typeface at Roman Circus House in December. Picture by Seana Hughe s "Our project will illustrate that Colchester is not just about Romans" remarked one of our volunteers when we applied for the grant.  In December, we made our choice and approved our project logo, mission statement and, particularly the typefaces to be used. "Caligula Dodgy", might have been apt for a group which meets beside the site of the only known Roman chariot racing circus in the British Isles, but it was unanimously rejected by the club. They chose a 17th century script, for the body copy. But "Caligula Dodgy" is used for the text round the spider's web and for "YAC COLCHESTER"

"Caught in a Treacherous Tudor Web" YAC image November 2021

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 This haunting image of a spider spewing fire was designed by a new potential member of the club. We have not used it for any artwork so far. It was created after listening to the fate of the exceptional amount of protestants persecuted in Essex and particularly, Colchester. Their stories are the nub of our project "Trapped in a Treacherous Tudor Web". The project is part of the "Youth Voice", "From the Ordinary to the Extraordinary" and "Shout out Loud" Lottery funded initiatives.

We launch our project in Colchester Castle

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Colchester Castle Museum, Castle Park, Colchester Using digital pictures, in October, young archaeologists learned about the first building on the site, the Roman temple of Claudius. The temple podium vaults  still lie under the castle. Colchester Castle once resembled the White Tower in the City of London, but the crown sold Colchester Castle, which suffered neglect and partial demolition, until two of the town's MPs repaired and invested in it. It was the ideal venue to launch our project with the assistance of  museum staff.    

Our adventures in Fordham

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Metal detecting. One young archaeologi st, who was excited to discover part of a plough,  saved up his pocket money and enlisted relatives to buy a metal detector for his birthday.  Apart from open days at Roman Circus House in the summer it was not until September 2021 the club started to meet again. By that time, the Council of British Archaeology and English Heritage had  s tarted a series of initiatives to encourage clubs to engage with research and projects in their locality. Months of school and club meetings via zoom had resulted in young people being "zoomed out" it was time to get them out and about . The project s were named "Youth Voice", "From the Ordinary to the Extraordinary" and "Shout Out Loud". Encouraged and helped by the CBA, we applied for funding and started discussions on delivery of our project "Caught in a Treacherous Tudor Web" at Fordham. Find identification of artefact s discovered in the village Hosted by Col

Plans scuppered in first and total lockdown

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Lovely cat paw print in a tile excavated at the E s sex county Ho spital  site.  As a member of Friends of Colchester Archaeological Trust I was invited to look at the Essex County Hospital excavation. The site is interesting in that substantial Roman bread ovens were discovered near a Roman Road junction. I thought in terms of visitors to the Roman city and Roman circus popping by for a snack. It was an ideal site to arrange a visit for the YACs. Lockdown meant cancellation of these plans and everything else I had booked for the following three months, including a hoped for visit to Walton for instruction in fossil hunting and identification. It wasn't until the beginning of August I walked through the, almost deserted, town centre to return the resources I had taken from the YAC cupboard in Roman Circus House for the visit to the Essex County Hospital site. Early Augu st (2020) walk through the town centre reveal s one way  sy stem s in  operation and social distancing measures  

Colchester Young Archaeologists' Club just before the pandemic

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  Mike Mount talked about the Roman Army and brought his collection of Roman amour for us to try on at our meeting place, Roman Circus House (winter 2020) It i s nearly two year s  since we had to change the plan s we made with  Colchester   archaeologist Adam Wightman to vi sit the E s sex County Hospital excavation . We had made all the plan s. It wa s to be our third meeting in 2020. Who could have predicted what would happen next? Time line created for Colchester YAC by Wayne Dutnell of the town's Natural History Museum. The  artwork created by a YAC member        We'd had two meeting s in 2020. Mike Mount came to talk about Roman armour and the Roman army and we had a se s sion to  follow up our vi sit to the Natural History Mu seum the previou s year, painting pla ster ammonite s and making Roman/Saxon- style  jewellery with YAC volunteer Gillian, who also in struct s our young people in find identification and wa shing.