Bulletin 12 (Feb 2008) First Tank Project Weekend in Lincoln

Both the talks given on Saturday 23 February and the Open Day on 24 February were a resounding success.

All the tickets for the talk at the Collection were sold, with people travelling from as far away as Yorkshire and Northamptonshire. The packed house was not disappointed. Richard Pullen gave a fascinating overview of how and why the Tank came to be developed and of Lincoln's role.


This was followed by a thought provoking presentation by Neil on the Archaeology of Conflict, why the Great War was so different to everything that came before and the impact that it still has in the modern world. There were a great many questions for both speakers, from the audience - so much so the questions had to be curtailed to allow everyone to go home! A positive sign indeed!

The Open Day was always going to be an unknown quantity - would the Great War Archaeologists and Friends of the Lincoln Tank be sitting alone ....waiting? No. There was a stream of interested locals and more importantly people with stories to tell from the moment the doors opened to the end of play. It seemed as if Lincoln folk had just been waiting for an opportunity like this to come and tell their tales and show their photos.

The Friends of the Lincoln Tank did us proud with their displays of memorabilia - from a Vickers Machine Gun, to a WW1 Douglas motor cycle, to a remote control Mk IV tank (the size of our settee!), to medals. models, photos, books, plans, badges, brooches, uniform, you name it........ they brought it.

I'm absolutely delighted with the way the whole weekend went. My main aim, raising public awareness and interest was definitely acheived. Richard certainly has plenty more information for edition three of his 'Landships of Lincoln'. The Great War Archaeology Group has made its mark in the City.

We now need to consolidate the information we have, and find how we can best use it to help us with fieldwork on the Western front. Dave and I will carry out further geophysics to attempt to identify areas for for further investigation in Lincoln.

Finally I'd like to thank Neil Faulkner and Richard Pullen for both their presentations, to Dave Start of the Heritage Trust For Lincolnshire for introducing them and holding the evening together, to The Collection for allowing us to hold the talks in their wonderful lecture theatre and for making the evening run so smoothly, to the Royal Naval Association Club on Coulson Road in Lincoln for their hospitality (nothing was too much trouble) and to the Friends of the Lincoln Tank for supporting both events so fully.

Angie Hibbitt February 2008

Bulletin 11 (Feb 2008)Archaeology 2008 - The British Museum Conference Report

Archaeology 2008 - The British Museum Conference Report

The conference was hosted by Current Archaeology, Current World Archaeology and sponsored by the Traveller and the Portable Antiquity Scheme. It took place at the British Museum the 9th and 10th February 2008.

The places sold out; there were delegates, speakers and moderators, at least 500 people. The place was packed, so much so that one theatre had a dearth of spaces for the audience and an overflow facility with sound-only had to be hastily arranged. The British Museum staff, frazzled as they must have been with the simultaneous Chinese New Year celebrations, were unfailingly kind, polite and couldn’t do too much for everyone.

It is impossible to précis all the presentations, as two theatres were in use concurrently, and delegates had to choose one or other talk to go to. The topics were generally well presented with power point, and it was a pity the time slots for each were not longer, although the moderators did a fine job reminding the speakers when it was time to make room for the next presenter. There was a few question time sessions, but not enough and at the end of most sections of talks, although time for these was also limited. However, the breaks allowed everyone to meet and discuss issues, and the speakers were happy to mingle with the crowd and answer queries or to expand on their topic.

The speakers came from all walks of archaeological interest; diggers, historians, geophysicists, freelance and amateur, we saw and heard them all. Topics were presented of projects yet ongoing, nearly and newly published –we got some crafty book plugs- as well as topics old and new, all presented with verve, humour and some gorgeous illustrations. All areas of the U.K. were represented in the talks as well as further afield, as well as many eras of history. Pre-historians and Romanists were catered for; although Dr. Neil Faulkner’s passionate view of Roman Empire atrocities caused some to re-think their ideas of ‘Jolly Good Chaps and a Good Thing’ and shocked many into seeing modern parallels.

New to many was the subject of Conflict Archaeology, presented by Dr. Nicholas Saunders, an archaeologist and anthropologist. He introduced the topic as a multi-disciplinary subject that traced and recorded modern industrial warfare in the 20th and, alas, the 21st centuries. His interest as an anthropologist was very much to the fore. Instead of reciting the counting of bullets and shell casings, he took pains to present some of the victims, the 18 year old who never got to go home, the lost man killed on the Somme, with a pre-historic knapped flint in his bag, named when found decades later with a family who still wondered what had happened. Oral history was of paramount importance in pin-pointing places people lived and died in, of the feelings and thoughts of those who did go home, and it should still be of paramount importance as we are losing so many of the generations who fought in later conflicts. It was brought home quite forcibly that the legacy of these recent conflicts affect us all, no matter which flag we stand beneath.

Continuing on from this theme was Nadia Durrani’s presentation of the Archaeology of the first Blitz to hit our shores, with an account of Zeppelins over Britain in 1917. GWAG members were involved in a series of investigations in 2006, looking at World War One airfields, gun emplacements and a Zeppelin crash in Suffolk. Nadia ably conveyed the amount of detail the group managed to elicit
from desktop research, site surveys and excavations. Time constraints caused some points to be missed –although there was a book plug squeezed in- but the GWAG members present felt the excitement and interest of such new archaeology was well put forward.

As with every dig, details of moments of laughter and perhaps more importantly, those of extreme sadness when contemplating such recent lives lost, are unconveyable to another audience, but as with Dr. Saunders talk, many felt a poignancy and emotion not often experienced in history further removed from our memories.
Odette Nelson - Feb 2008
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Bulletin 10 (Feb 2008)Archaeology 2008 - The British Museum 10th February 2008

This prestigious event will host two GWAG related talks:
"Conflict Archaeology, and why it matters"
Dr Nicholas J. Saunders
Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol

"In search of the Zeppelin War: the archaeology of the First Blitz"
Dr Nadia Durrani
Editor, Current World Archaeology

For more details of these please click here

Bulletin 9 (Jan 2008)The First Tank Project

The talk by Dr Neil Faulkner on 23 February 2008 will take place at in the Lecture Theatre at The Collection, Lincoln from 7pm. (See event poster - click here)

Neil will be speaking on ‘Tanks, Zepps and Training Trenches: the archaeology of Britain at War 1914 to 1918.’ His talk will encompass the archaeology of conflict - what is it, why is it different and why does it matter? Why was the First World War different to those that had gone before? Also, projects by other groups, e.g. No Man’s Land work on training trenches, as well as GWAG’s own projects e.g. the First Blitz.

Neil will be joined by Richard Pullen MA, who will be speaking about the Development of the Tank, and recent fieldwork carried out in and around Lincoln. Richard lives in Lincoln and is local and Great War historian, archaeologist, historian, founder member of the Friends of the Lincoln Tank and author – including ‘Landships of Lincoln’.

This will be followed on Sunday 24 February by the Open Day at The Royal Naval Club on Coulson Road in Lincoln. The Friends of the Lincoln Tank, along with GWAG will be putting on a display of the history and development of the Tank in Lincolnshire, together with model WW1 Tanks and an exhibition of WW1 artefacts. Locals are being encouraged to come along with their own stories, family memories or mementos to help fill in the gaps in our knowledge.
Angie Hibbitt - 6 January 2008

Bulletin 8 (Jan 2008) Lincoln Open Day

date has now been set for the aforementioned ‘Open Day’ in Lincoln. It will be held on Sunday 24 February 2008 at the Royal Naval Club on Coulson Road in Lincoln.

This venue has been specially chosen due to its close proximity to the site of the William Fosters Factory and the testing grounds at Poppletons Field.

The main intentions of the Open Day are to raise public awareness of the local development of the Tank, by having displays of the History of the Factory and the Tanks, as well as encouraging people to come and talk about any memories they may have, or stories that may have been passed down through the family. There will be members of the Friends of the Lincoln Tank on hand to record these oral accounts.

Dr Neil Faulkner will also be at the event, to discuss the project both in Lincoln and in Europe.

Neil will also be giving a presentation in Lincoln on Saturday 23 February 2008

Further details to follow in in due course

Bulletin 7 (August 2007) The First Blitz Project - One Tree Hill

The First Blitz Project - One Tree Hill

GWAG carried out an evaluation at the site of a WW1 Gun Emplacement at One Tree Hill, South London over the weekend of 25 and 26 August 2007. The Gun Emplacement itself was cleared, recorded and photographed. Metal detector and geophysical surveys were carried out to identify areas of potential archaeological interest and a small number of test pits were excavated. Provisional results have shown the Emplacement to be in fair condition. The test pits revealed much consolidation of land and park landscaping, together with evidence of the supply of services
to the site. A rough concreted surface was also located.

The weekend had been widely publicised which resulted in a good deal of local interest and a number of the visitors were able to add their own memories or knowledge of the area. Local historians now have further information on the site to follow up, and their research will be used in conjunction with GWAG’s findings to develop the project further.


The First Tank Project

GWAG has been working closely with the Friends of the Lincoln Tank, to arrange fieldwork
and desk top study in Lincoln.

A geophysical survey was carried out during August 2007 at Burton Park, near Lincoln, which is where the early prototype tanks, including Mother, were tested.

It is intended that an ‘Open Day’ be held at premises in the area of the site of William Fosters Factory for members of the public to bring along any finds they may have found in gardens of
houses built in the area of Poppletons Field, or to talk about memories or family stories they may have about the construction of the tank, or of the foundry where the tanks were built.
Angie Hibbitt

Bulletin 6 (July 2007) First Blitz Project/GARP website launched

A proposed ‘First Blitz’ project based around the One Tree Hill gun emplacement in South London

During the First World War, London was the target of the first strategic bombing campaign in history. Raids by German airships and aeroplanes were met by the development of a comprehensive home-defence system based on wireless direction-finding stations, observation posts, searchlights, anti-aircraft guns, and dedicated fighter squadrons. The conflict has been relatively little studied. Many archive sources have not been researched. Little oral history work has been done. Most material remains are unrecorded. Of the 20,469 sites recorded in the Defence of Britain Project, for example, only 322 are of First World War date, only 44 relate to the air war, and of these, half are airfields, with only one searchlight and six anti-aircraft gun emplacements recorded for the whole country.

The Great War Archaeology Group’s pilot ‘First Blitz Project’ in June 2006, carried out in association with BBC Timewatch, demonstrated the potential. Our outer study area, centred on the Lea Valley, extended 40km east-west across West Essex and East Hertfordshire, and 40km northwards from the Thames. In this area alone, our desktop research identified 33 former anti-aircraft gun emplacements and 19 searchlight emplacements. Detailed survey, clearance and excavation at the Monkhams Hall gun emplacement north of Waltham Abbey revealed an observation post and an ammunition store as well as the gun platform itself. The project also demonstrated how archaeological fieldwork can act as a focus for oral history. TheBBC recorded interviews with several people who remembered the air-raids as children, including one who had been present at the bombing of Upper North Street School in Poplar on 13 June 1917, when 18 five-year-olds were killed in the infant classroom.

In relation to these events, we are close to the centenary and on the cusp of living memory. There is a strong and urgent case for investigating, recording, preserving and presenting the material remains of the First World War in Britain. A community project centred on the surviving anti-aircraft gun platform at One Tree Hill would make a valuable contribution to this.

We are planning a preliminary survey, on the weekend of 25-26 August, using field reconnaissance, geophysics, metal-detecting, and limited surface clearance toidentify and record obvious features. We will link this with archive research, especially of old maps, and an oral history project, where we will use the focus of archaeological activity, advertised in advance, to encourage local people with memories of the site to come forward. We will welcome visitors and would be set up to explain what we were doing and why.

This will be a preliminary and evaluative investigation with a view: a) to furtherwork on the site, possibly, if appropriate, including small excavation trenches; and b) to developing a wider project using archives, memories and material remains to explore the character and impact of the air-raids in the area. If such a project developed, we would be keen to facilitate maximum community involvement, including local schools.


GARP dedicated website launched

The Great Arab Revolt Project (GARP) now has it’s own dedicated website. Originally it was part of this website, but has proved to be so popular it has had to move! On the GARP website you can find out about this pioneering project which is now into it’s second season of fieldwork in Jordan (November 2007). There is also information about T.E Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia) and other related articles and links.
Visit the website at: www.jordan1914-18archaeology.org


The First Tank Project

Work is continuing on the First Tank Project at a steady pace. August 2007 will see a geophysical survey carried out at one of the early testing grounds to the north-west of Lincoln, to see if any ditches or other features remain. A desk-based study of early maps and original architects drawings of William Foster’s Wellington Factory in Lincoln (where the first tanks were built) is proving interesting. Other related buildings in and around Lincoln are also being studied.

Dr Neil Faulkner and David Hibbitt PIFA - Great War Archaeology Group