Colchester YACs go on site at Fordham


 Armed with their own trowels and kneelers, Colchester Young Archaeologists' Club found Roman brick and tile fragments and pottery sherds on an extensive Roman site in farmland in the village of Fordham. There are views from the site across the countryside to the City of Colchester. Colchester Archaeological Group has been digging on the site for ten years now and it keeps us all guessing as to the extent of it and its purpose. Roman dwelling was our first thought. or perhaps, being a three mile walk from Colchester, it was an inn. Masses of Roman tesserae have been excavated, many bone hair pins, an elaborately carved bone box. Archaeologists found evidence of a water feature/fountain The site is likely to continue well beyond the boundary (above). They put the spoil in buckets and learned how to sift it, from the manager of the site. They washed what they had found, after being alerted to bring old toothbrushes to wash out the grooves. One young man, inadvertently dropped the piece of Roman brick he was washing into his boot. (picture below) A 15-year-old made the find of the morning: a fragment of a Roman pane of glass.

It is to be hoped the plans for a 50 metre (164) foot pylon close to this site will not go ahead. Not only would the pylon destroy the archaeology, but it would ruin the countryside views we cherish on our visits to this site.


 

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