Hawkesbury Rally, gut feelings ?

[Tafflaff (Rob)]

Come on then guys, we always have a theory about rally sites and what type of finds are likely to come up.

What do you recon - gut feeling on what will be the theme of this rally ? 

[DEADLOCK]

I think it's gonna be a hammy fest,  theme should be silly hats  .  First prise will go to Damon key 

[matthewbullingham123]

First rally so dont know what to expect, but i should imagine some good finds coming up in that area .

[the-BANGOR-citizan]

Well the HER tells you of Iron Age, Medieval and later finds. Roman Villa site south of the Village Shrunken Settlement Earth works as well as Ridge and Furrow and Strip Lynchets to the Long Barrow on Hawkesbury Knoll I would say Rob you have a good chance of finding anything from the last 6000 years. Good hunting all.

[stever]

Hi Folks Just found a bit of info on the area.

The South Gloucestershire parish of Hawkesbury close to the Wiltshire border comprises villages of Little Badminton and Hawkesbury Upton (formerly Upton), and hamlets of Hawkesbury (formerly Stoke), Inglestone, Starveall, Upper and Lower Kilcott, Dunkirk and Petty France. Other villages of Hillesley and Tresham were in the parish until they became separate parishes in 1856 and 1923 respectively.

We see the land start to change from virgin forest to small clearings ploughed fields and the emergence of elaborate burials evidence of which are the long barrows and tumuli such as Nan Tow’s Tump located between Starveall and Saddlewood. There are quite a few that surround the parish today, as we are in the Stone Age, the forests were cleared with stone axes. These can sometimes be found along with flint tools in the local fields. A Bronze Age fort is located at the end of Sandpits Lane above Horton it is round in shape enclosing the area of a small stadium and made up of a series of ditches and earthworks, another which is in sight of the first is behind the Roman camp garage on the A46 road just south of the parish it was indeed a Roman camp but it was 1500 years old when the Romans arrived so they transformed the round earth works into an oblong which was their standard format and more familiar to them. It was not long before they came our way, we know they must have walked through Hawkesbury fields and byways as they had forts along the escarpment and an old road that exists linking the Roman camps to Hawkesbury. It is still called Bath Lane but it is only a track today, it passes by Farm Pool which is a natural spring and on past the monument.

The earliest documentary evidence so far found is a Charter of 972AD granted by Saxon King Edgar bestowing lands and privileges to the Abbey of Pershore. It is thought these may have been a Royal estate previously. These include Suthstoce (South Stoke, the present Hawkesbury), Hilleahe (Hillesley), Tresham, Badimyncgtun (Badminton), Uptun (Hawkesbury Upton), Ealdanbyri (Oldbury on the Hill), and Dydmeretune (Didmarton). The latter two were in the parish until about 1250, which was in the Hundred of Grumbolds Ash, a Saxon division of the county. The Domesday Book survey of 1086 confirms the Abbey of Pershore held the Manor of Hawkesbury.

We must also mention Wulfstan born about 1008 and ordained in Worcester, refused the relatively easy life to become vicar of Hawkesbury. It was during this time he became a vegetarian after the temptation of a well fattened goose, turned to monasticism, later became prior of Worcester Cathedral, and was one of the few English men to keep his position after the Norman Conquest. He succeeded in almost stopping the slave trade between Bristol and Ireland. After his death in 1095, he was canonized in 1203. St Wulfstans remains were re-entered in Worcester Cathedral in the presence of King Henry III.

At the dissolution of the Monastery in 1539, both the Manor and the rectory were seized by the Crown. The Manor had a yearly value of £159 15s 1d in old money, John BUTLER of Badminton was granted the manor and tithes of Hawkesbury by Letters of Patent in 1546 in whose hands they remained until 1609, when for about £5000 they passed to Arthur CREWE of Hillesley in 1620. It again changed hands this time to Sir Robert JENKINSON, a knight from Walcot, Oxfordshire, whose ancestor one Anthony JENKINSON sailed with Sebastian CABOT.

The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin was first built at Hawkesbury around 700AD on the site of the present church. The original building may have been a Saxon minster church, where secular clergy would have provided care for this large parish. During recent alterations in the basement foundations were found to support this, the early church probably had a thatched roof and was a quite modest construction of one stone built hall and out buildings to house the priests. Most of the more elaborate memorial tablets in the church are to members of the JENKINSON family. “The churchyard filled with hoary altar tombs, the fine topiary hedge of clipped yews, which encompassed them on three sides and is shaped into 34 arches, the old vicarage with its many gables, and the farm buildings about it, make a memorable group”,

[Tafflaff (Rob)]

Many thanks Stever for that

[GJH]

Thanks for that Stever, a really good read.
Geoff

[Dryland]

I reckon a lot of hammereds will be found,and I'll probably find ....my sandwiches squashed in
the back of my van.

[Dale]

A good read Steve, cant wait

[legio11augustus]

i never try and speculate, as every time i think its a great site i have a washout .so every dw rally me and missmaggs say we are going to find just buttons and hell 90% we are bang on .....but..shhh dont tell anyone i think lots of roman and a a splatter of saxon 

[Johnboy25]

Good read Steve, looking forward to the dig very much...... Please stop raining.

[Da Monkey]

I think it's gonna be a hammy fest,  theme should be silly hats  .  First prise will go to Damon key 

I've got a good collection of silly hats you've seen a few lol.

I'd settle for one hammy so I can get off the mark this year

[Chef Geoff]

Yes but they're only silly when you wear them

[dances with badgers]

lol

[manicdev]

My gut feeling is that I, once again, will find very little 
I have not yet found very much on DW digs, but have had a lovely time, as all concerned
have been so friendly, so I don't worry that my find's rate is fairly low 
But as a dig, I DO think that some very, very nice find's will come up, as the history of this area is very good 
Dave