Well it seems an age since I've written one of my "appetisers" for a rally but I've been looking forward to this one for a long time. I've probably done more research on this site than on any of my own and still I have more questions than answers which is often the way.
The biggest question is "why so many coins" from what is on paper a low lying area that should have been waterlogged?
As Taff has said we have now had more than 100 hammies from this site spanning from the 13thC right through to the 17th and although we have had 4 rallies here, the last one was the most rewarding with better than 1 in 2 people finding a hammy and it's worth remembering that none of these rallies have been what you would call "well" attended.
So on to the known history of the site and the possible reason for the finds. As said the site itself is on what is know as the Somerset levels and appears to be an area that would have been marsh for half of the year, however recent studies have shown there are great many areas, now known as the "vanished islands", these were areas where the underlying rock is closer to the surface and therefore were more prominent before the silting up of the levels by clay and peat.
Our site would seem to fit this mould and so habitation has always been possible especially on the southern side. The Romans did settle on the land due to them building sea defences on the coast, there is a very well preserved building under the site unfortunately the floor level is approximately 5 feet below the current surface level
1 meter high Roman wall.
This is located
IN the stream to the west of the site so to stand any chance of Roman, which must be there, it may come in the dredgings along the side of this stream.
The site is bounded by a stream or rhyn on both the east and west, the westerly, though looking more natural, is as you see by the building, man-made, also the larger rhyne to the east is known to have been dug as a canal to link the four seaboard manor's Glastonbury Abbey with Glastonbury itself, this was before 1300. ( if there are fresh dredgings about you will see a great deal of pottery with some large pieces of 16th-17thC Staffordshire slipware)
There is or was signs of a large "settlement" in the south of the site with building on either side of the rhyne going north but nothing that conforms to a village as such, the true answer could be under the field and in the form of a silted up river channel
The River Siger is mentioned in charters as far back as the mid 7thC and was a vast area of water, none of which remains.
The black area is the the courses of the old river Siger.
This river was easily navigable from the sea and one of it's branches terminates on our site and could have been employed as a "creek" to offload goods before transporting, once again by boat, to Glastonbury.
Therefore the site could represent a trading port, now miles from the coast, the end of which would have come sometime in the 17th-18thC with the total draining of the moors.
The finds have in the main been in good condition, the first rally here found me an Edward 111 groat from the clay...
Finding this was in fact the reason for me to talk to Neil for the first time.....thankfully I've not had reason to talk to him since
The true picture we will probably never know but "if" some of the above is true and trade was it's function then one thing that is missing from our finds tally is.............................................GOLD!
It's worth remembering that a medieval gold coin was only worth sixpence.
So good luck on Sunday and here's hoping
