Archive

July sees the annual Festival of British archaeology, and we are putting on two special events as part of this: Behind the Scenes Tour – Wed 16 July, 2:30-4:00pm We have another opportunity to take you behind the scenes to see places you don’t normally get to see here in The Hive and find out...

This week’s Treasure is a roof finial which has been selected by Laura Griffin, Senior Finds Archaeologist. The item is a rare example of decoration that would have been found on high status houses hundreds of years ago. Here, Laura tells us more: These two ceramic heads were originally from a single object called a ‘roof...

This week Emily Hathaway, Historic Environment Countryside Assistant, has chosen Worcestershire’s field barns and outfarms as her Treasure: The significance of field barns and outfarms in the Yorkshire Dales and Derbyshire is well recognised; you may not, however, automatically associate Worcestershire with these often humble but highly distinctive buildings. Field barns and outfarms are farm...

Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service has been commissioned by English Heritage to undertake a project aimed at appraising the impact of flooding and flood mitigation on the county’s distinctive and rich historic environment and landscape character. Worcestershire is particularly vulnerable to riverine and rainwater flooding with large areas of the countryside, including numerous historic towns...

The first copy of the much anticipated children’s history of Worcester, “Stories of Worcester”, arrived at The Hive yesterday to the delight of staff and authors alike. Pat Hughes (front left), co-author of ‘Stories of Worcester’ and WAAS staff Claire Haslam (r-l) and Julia Pincott (r-r) who have assisted with the process of publishing the...

This week’s Treasures, brought to you by Archaeologist Rob Hedge, were uncovered during a recent community excavation called ‘DigMinster’. The series of finds uncovered during the course of this project provide an insight into a largely forgotten chapter of Kidderminster’s industrial heritage: Last year, our archaeologists led a month-long community excavation at St Mary’s Church...

This week’s Treasure has been chosen by Jack Hanson, Historic Landscape Officer. He has decided to highlight an area west of the village of Alvechurch, Bromsgrove as representative of the many locally distinctive, significant, and valued historic landscapes across the county which remain largely under-represented and unprotected. Alvechurch Marina, along the Birmingham to Worcester Canal  While many historic...

To help support teachers who will be teaching Prehistory as part of the new national Curriculum we will be running a twilight session for teachers with Museums Worcestershire on 4th June. The new history curriculum will include British prehistory for Key Stage 2 for the first time, and we know from conversations that many teachers...

This week’s Treasure has been chosen by Tom Vaughan, Project Manager for Worcestershire Archaeology. Tom has chosen to highlight a series of finds which were uncovered as a result of archaeological investigations in Kempsey. Here, Tom tells us more about the rich history of this area: In 2011 Worcestershire Archaeology undertook a series of investigations...

For this week’s Treasure Emma Hancox, Historic Environment Policy and Advisory Manager, has chosen to highlight how the Historic Environment Record demonstrates the archaeology evident across Redditch New Town. Whilst Redditch is not often considered to be rich in archaeological sites, Emma shows how our records prove that the town was designed with the history of the area very...