A Talk by Aaron Girdlestone on 12 November 2024.
Report by Stan Morrissey.
A packed hall greeted Aaron Girdlestone when he arrived to talk to the Society. Aaron is an archaeologist currently studying for an MA and has been involved with the site for years. He dedicated his talk to Roger Howell who was lead archaeologist for the site but died in 2024.
Identified on old maps as a chapel, the site is being explored by Thornbury Archaeology group and Bristol University. It’s on the edge of Alveston and dates to Norman times, probably a hunting lodge but with additional buildings. Alveston (Aelfarigstan) was a royal hundred owned by King Harold, then William II, and named in a Henry I charter of 1121. The site gained national prominence when shown on BBC’s Digging for Britain, starring Aaron and Roger (oh, and Alice Roberts was there too).
The site has a colourful history. There is evidence of it being attacked and burned, probably during the Anarchy of Stephen and Matilda (1138-53). The latest dating, after which there is no evidence of further activity, was at the time of the Second Barons’ War (Simon de Montfort and the Battle of Evesham, 1265).
The site is in an unusual position, tucked away on the side of a valley rather than on the flat and only accessible by a cart track. It does have a good water supply, with several springs and a stream.
Excavation has uncovered many walls and buildings with evidence of it being reworked several times. Ditches have been dug, filled in and re-dug and there are a number of postholes of unknown use, though probably to support light shelters or lean-tos.
The site itself consists of a ‘building’ with various rooms and some outbuildings. It is not known if the rooms were all in use at the same time or were built in phases. They have clay bases with stone slabs for fires (no chimneys, must have been very smoky), and imprints of wooden floors where the wood grain can still be seen. The walls were of stone topped with wattle and daub (hazel branches plastered with clay of which imprints remain). Traces of fingerprints can still be seen in the clay. No tiles or slates were found so the roof was probably thatched. There is clear evidence of the building being destroyed by fire; charcoal and burnt clay and melted lead under one fireplace show intense heat. Whether this was accidental or the result of an attack is not known.
At some point the walls collapsed, or were destroyed, and many preserved items are being found beneath them. An area assumed to be the kitchen had a water channel or drain leading to a nearby stream. Here were found large pieces of storage pots apparently crushed by the masonry and still holding traces of their content, including fish scales and grains. An exotic find was the backbone of a ray, not an inhabitant of the Severn. The exteriors of the pots show impressions of straw showing how they were probably stored. Aaron has experimented using local clay to build a pot by hand and fire it over an open fire, with reasonable results. His next career awaits!
A wide selection of artefacts has been found, ranging from horseshoes and nails, keys, coins of Henry I and Stephen, a substantial axe-head and copious pottery sherds, to a meat bone apparently chewed by a dog as evidence of domesticity. A prize find was a comb, broken but still retaining its teeth. Aaron brought many of these to show us, along with a model of how the building probably looked.
The overall conclusion on the building is that it was ‘a bit shoddy’, being built with no great care and with only local materials. It was clearly not a high status building but, judging by the artefacts, had high status visitors.
Everyone was fascinated by Aaron’s vivid account and we look forward to hearing more as work continues on the site. There will be an exhibition at the Museum in 2025.