Unlocking secrets of town's past

From the Abingdon Herald, first published Wednesday 23rd Apr 2008.

EXPERTS using the latest hi-tech equipment have been unlocking the secrets of Wallingford's historic past as teams of archaeologists descended on the Kinecroft, Bullcroft and Castle Meadows.

They used geophysical equipment - well known from the geo-phys investigations on TV's Time Team - to criss-cross the important sites to find out what was buried below the surface.

The work with the magnetometers and resistivity machines finished on Saturday and now the experts are interpreting the graphs and wavy lines of the sound wave readings to find out where "old-fashioned" archaeology - digging - will be most profitably done.

Once that is decided, the physical work will begin on July 21 and carry on at various sites through to August 9.

They will be helped by members of Wallingford Historical and Archaeological Society.

It is all part of the "Wallingford Burh to Borough Project" mapping the history of the historic town. The whole project started in 2002 but had to stop because of a lack of funding.

Money has now been guaranteed for the next two years.

Dr Neil Christie, from the School of Archaeology and Ancient History at Leicester, said: "Wallingford is a key town.

"We hope to analyse the rich archaeological and documentary date for Wallingford between AD500 and 1250.

"This will give us fresh and vital evidence for the sites of the middle- and late-Saxon Burh, through the Normans with Wallingford Castle and into the medieval development and redevelopment of Wallingford as a Borough.

"Wallingford is justly renowned as a remarkable example of an historic defended town that retains an especially well-preserved medieval town plan.

"Wallingford's compact core is encircled by banks and ditches from Saxon times.

"The gridded street network also features medieval churches, a lost Benedictine priory and numerous other medieval buildings.

"Wallingford is a classic site in British medieval archaeology."

Part of the whole project will be a one-day conference on May 31, titled "The Origins of Wallingford - A Reassessment".

Results of the excavations being done over the next two years and the artefacts unearthed will be displayed in Wallingford Museum in Flint House, High Street, to show what a special town Wallingford is.

Mayor Betty Atkins said: "We all know Wallingford is special and now the archaeologists are set to show us new parts of our long history.

"It is all very interesting."

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