This volume describes one of the most exciting and unexpected archaeological discoveries to have been made in Britain in recent years, that of a rare mass grave of executed Vikings on Ridgeway Hill, Dorset. The skeletons, around 50 in total, were predominantly of young adult males all of whom had been decapitated: heads had been deposited in a pile at the southern edge of the grave, while the beheaded bodies had been apparently thrown in with little care. Since their recovery experts have undertaken forensic studies of the bones and have applied cutting edge techniques to elicit the most information possible, in order to understand who the individuals were and what circumstances led to their demise. It reveals an extraordinary story of the discovery of what is arguably the most dramatic physical evidence for violence in early medieval Britain ever encountered by archaeologists.

'Given to the Ground': A Viking Age Mass Grave on Ridgeway Hill, Weymouth (Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society)

History

Boyle, Angela

Loe, Louise

Webb, Helen

Score, David

Europe

Oxford Archaeology

New research is incorporated in this examination of the landscape, palaeoecology, and archaeology of Over Wyre, Lytham Moss, the Central Fylde, the Lune Estuary Mosses, and the Arnside/ Silverdale area. The final chapters provide a synthesis of the evidence from the late glacial through to the post-medieval period. This is the third volume in English Heritage's survey of England's North West Wetlands.

The Wetlands of North Lancashire (North West Wetlands Survey)

Politics & Social Sciences

Wells, Colin

Middleton, Robert

Huckerby, Elizabeth

Archaeology

Manchester's mires were particularly susceptible to industrial exploitation from the early modern period onwards. This study offers original research Chat Moss, Carrington Cross, Red Moss, Ashton Moss and Kearsley Moss, as well as a description of smaller and former wetlands in the area. The survey ranges from post-glacial periods to the most recent past.

The Wetlands of Greater Manchester (Great African Lives)

Hall, D.

The remains of Pilkingtons' No 9 Tank House represent a unique survival from the 19th century, an period of rapid development within the glass industry characterised by innovative but short-lived design. These remains are now recognised as the most complete known glass furnace structures of their era. Between 1991 and 1997, Lancaster University Archaeological Unit (now Oxford Archaeology North) conducted a programme of standing building survey, excavation, and oral and documentary research, targeted on the remains on the 'Hotties' site, in St Helens, Merseyside. The tank house was purpose-built by Pilkingtons in 1887 for the manufacture of window glass using the blown cylinder method; the cone house element of the complex still stands, and is an impressive Grade II Listed building. The investigations revealed the surviving base-level remains of a continuous tank furnace, with its regenerator chambers and gas supply flues still largely intact. This report on the excavation of the site includes chapters on the historical background to glass making at Pilkingtons, the phases of construction and redevelopment at the 'Hotties' site, working conditions and industrial relations, and a discussion of the role of Pilkingtons in the development of the British glass industry.

'The Hotties': Excavation and Building Survey at Pilkingtons' No 9 Tank House, St Helens, Merseyside (Lancaster Imprints)

Heawood, Richard

Krupa, Mick

During the 1990s, Oxford Archaeology North (then Lancaster University Archaeological Unit) conducted a programme of evaluation, building recording, excavation and documentary research at Old Abbey Farm, Risley. This small moated site, now in Warrington Borough, was probably constructed after the sub-division of the manor of Culcheth in 1246; timbers dated by dendrochronology have suggested that a late thirteenth or possibly early fourteenth century aisled hall formerly stood on the moated platform. In the late medieval period the aisles were removed and new timber framing was built below the arcade-plates; the renovated hall was accessed by a substantial fifteenth century timber bridge. A crossing was added to the hall in the mid sixteenth century and the bridge across the moat was rebuilt in stone. From the seventeenth century, the house was subject to piecemeal underpinning and rebuilding in brick, and was extended in the mid eighteenth century. The project provided a rare opportunity to record a building during demolition and subsequently excavate below it, thereby maximising the information retrieval. The project was a runnerup in the British Archaeological Awards for 1996. The project has been generously supported by UK Waste Management Limited (Biffa Waste Services Limited) throughout.

Old Abbey Farm, Risley (Lancaster Imprints)

Howard-Davis, Christine

Drury, Denise

It is easy to take our most important historic monuments for granted, and there is a commonly-held view that we know everything about them. Archaeology, however, has the capacity to surprise us by revealing new, unexpected aspects of even the most familiar sites. So it was at the Tower of London, when Historic Royal Palaces established the Tower Environs Scheme in the mid 1990s to improve the area around the castle and provide it with a setting worthy of its status as a World Heritage Site. The idea of reflooding the moat was one of the most exciting proposals under consideration, and a major programme of archaeological and technical investigations was undertaken to assess its feasibility. This led in 1995 to the very unexpected discovery of top-quality stonework at the bottom of a small trench in the moat. The discovery was difficult to interpret, so a much larger excavation took place during 1996-7, revealing previously unknown parts of the Tower's 13th-century defences. This report provides a full description and analysis of the remarkable discoveries, representing a major advance in our understanding of Henry III's expansion of the castle. Many other interesting aspects of the moat's development and environment are also described, and there are extensive entries on artefacts such as a wickerwork fish trap - and the fish trapped inside it.

The Tower of London Moat (Historic Royal Palaces Monograph)

Keevill, G. D.

Lying in the heart of the Nene Valley at Higham Ferrers in Northamptonshire, was a substantial Roman roadside settlement, excavated in part by Oxford Archaeology during 2002-3. Established along the eastern side of a road in the early 2nd century AD with an array of circular stone buildings, it underwent a significant transformation around 100 years later. A series of plots containing rectangular stone buildings was laid out on one side of the road, whilst on the other side was a monumental shrine complex containing hundreds of votive offerings. Although the shrine fell into disuse in the later 3rd century, the settlement continued to expand along the road until it too was abandoned during the latter half of the 4th century. No doubt the shrine played an active role in the economic lives of the inhabitants, but the evidence indicates an overwhelming agricultural economy - a community of native farming families with horticultural plots, small paddocks, nearby arable fields, and hay meadows on the Nene floodplain. This volume presents the results of archaeological investigations of this Roman settlement, along with other excavated prehistoric sites in the local area, including Mesolithic activity, a late Neolithic/early Bronze Age ring ditch and a middle Iron Age settlement.

Between Villa and Town: Excavations of a Roman Roadside Settlement and Shrine at Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire (Oxford Archaeology Monograph)

Smith, Alex

Smith, Alexander

Lawrence, Steve

Ancient Civilizations

The cotton-spinning mill of A & G Murray is one of the most important surviving steam-powered cotton mills in the world. It was established in the Ancoats area of Manchester during the final years of the 18th century, and was amongst the first cotton mills ever to have been designed specifically to house steam-powered spinning mules, providing a new and powerful dimension to factory-based textile manufacture. This book details the comprehensive survey of the mill and the remarkable, but little studied, industrial townscape of Ancoats, and is presented for both specialists and general readers.

A and G Murray and the Cotton Mills of Ancoats (Lancaster Imprints)

Miller, I.

World

Westhawk Farm is the site of a large Roman settlement established at an important road junction shortly after the Roman conquest, discovered and partly excavated in advance of housing development. The settlement contained contrasting groups of carefully laid out plots and unplanned areas. Excavated timber buildings included circular and rectilinear structures and a polygonal shrine. The main concerns of the inhabitants were apparently agriculture and market services. Iron production was important, but probably only of local significance, although the settlement may have had a role in the administration the iron industry. Activity at the site had declined greatly by the mid 3rd century; a striking pattern reflected elsewhere in the region but still of uncertain significance.

The Roman Roadside Settlement at Westhawk Farm, Ashford, Kent (Oxford Archaeology Monograph)

Booth, Paul

Bingham, Anne-Marie

The Old Burial Ground of the Royal Hospital Greenwich (1749-1857) provided the resting place for a very Motley crew - the battered and worn out veterans of the Royal Navy of the Georgian period. Recent excavations in the cemetary by Oxford Archaeology revealed the coffined burials of over a hundred Greenwich Pensioners (the equivalent of the Chelsea Pensioners), who had ended their long and colourful lives at the Hospital. These were sailors and mariners that sailed and fought in Britain's numerous wars of the 18th century, many seeing action at such famous engagements as the Glorious First of June, Copenhagen, the Nile, and Trafalgar. The hazards and physical demands of their lives are clearly reflected in their skeletons, with fractures, infections, amputations, joint disease and scurvy being common. Osteological findings are interpreted in the light of rich documentary sources on the social history of the lowerdeck of Nelson's Navy, and form an invaluable alternative data set in reconstructing the extraordinary lives of these 'picked and brine pickled survivors'.

Safe Moor'd in Greenwich Tier: A Study of the Skeletons of Royal Navy Sailors and Marines excavated at the Royal Hospital Greenwich (Oxford Archaeology Monograph, 5)

Boston, Ceridwen

Witkin, Annsofie

Wilkinson, David R. P.

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