Dorset Diggers Community Archaeology Group is an exciting new heritage initiative based in West Dorset and run by local people who are interested in researching, surveying and excavating the archaeology of this beautiful part of the county. Our main aim is to work in partnership with local communities, helping them to engage with their heritage. Also we are using social media [Facebook, blog, website] to raise the profile of the rich archaeological heritage of West Dorset, which is particularly rich in sites of all periods, much of it still visible in the landscape.
Our first project is based in Maiden Newton, where we are looking at a brick structure which is marked on 19th century maps. No one in Maiden Newton seems to remember what it is or what it was used for. So a good first project for us. The excavation has uncovered a two room structure, one room with a double door arrangement and one room that may have been open to the Old Sydling Road, now called the Drift Road.
Evidence suggests that it was a place to keep a horse and cart and/or a workshop of some kind, with metalwork making up most of the finds. This building has now taken its place back in the collective history of the village, a building which would have once served people travelling to and from Maiden Newton, Cerne Abbas and Sydling.
A small glass stopper led us to the most terrible story. On the stopper was the legend Wright & Co, glass makers of Staffordshire. They had an industrial accident where two workers were engulfed by 100 tons of molten glass. Only the metal belt buckles and hobnails from their boots survived. They were buried encased in the glass and at the funeral Mr Wright suggested that the rest of the workers now had to work harder to make up the loss of the two men! One small find can tell us so much.
New projects are being negotiated and we look forward in the future to helping people connect to the deeper past of our rich heritage.
The group is open to all who live in the West Dorset district and county.
Chris Tripp
