WW1 Training Camp Surveyed and part excavated.

[No Signals]

A local community based social enterprise archaeology service, Elmet Archaeological Services Ltd, have recently spent two weeks at the site of the training camp established for the Barnsley Pals Battalions of the York and Lancs Regiment. The blog of their work can be found here.

 

http://elmetarchaeology.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/28-april-2014-barnsley-pals-project-day.html?spref=fb

 

Some interesting details turned up, if you like concrete :-) Although the exact nature of some of the features is yet to be determined. A request has been made to an appropriate archive to see if any 'standard' plans from the period remain for ablution blocks etc.

 

 

I've done a lot of work on this site over many years so it was good to see a 'proper' geophysical survey finally done of the remains and it will be interesting to see what they finally come up with when they study the findings.

 

Not part of the current survey area is an area of 'practise' trenches cut in a nearby area of (now) woodland. It is also reported that a large number of grenade fragments were metal detected some time ago in another adjacent area of the woods, so there is plenty of potential work left for the group another season.

[paul_bish]

Very interesting. Would be good to see more military archaeology being done

[11th Armoured]

Some interesting details turned up, if you like concrete :-)

 

Ah yes, 'interesting' concrete - I oversaw the excavation of parts of two Second World War communal surface air raid shelters in Lincoln a couple of years ago, which basically comprised two large dumps of broken reinforced concrete. It was difficult to convey to the groundworks contractors that this was actually an interesting find...

 

 

Very interesting. Would be good to see more military archaeology being done

 

As with all things Paul, the first starting point is money - even if you don't use professional archaeologists to actually carry out any digging, things still need to be done 'professionally' to ensure that everything is properly recorded & analysed. On top of that, geophysical survey, soil sample analysis & finds identification, etc. (which are usually beyond the capabilities of volunteers) can be surprisingly expensive, so the costs can soon mount up.

 

The problem with archaeology is that it's a finite resource - cock up an excavation and there are usually no second chances. If you dig something out & then find you've made a mistake, it's very difficult to put it back again to have a second go... (don't ask me how I know!)