On Saturday 22nd March all students, staff and volunteers took part in an extensive field walking exercise at the site of a moated manor house at Upton Heath, near Chester. The ploughed site was laid out in 10 metre grids and everything of any interest was collected. These items ranged from shards of Roman pottery, through medieval artefacts, to pieces of present day glass. All these items will be cleaned and evaluated. The exercise was repeated on Saturday 29th March as the farmer harrowed the field that week, thus making the collection of items easier.
During the next few months the students from West Cheshire College, Chester, will be continuing with their "Merseyside Open College Network" course each Saturday. This consists of a series of archaeological lectures and also working on the Poulton site to learn hands-on archaeological techniques. The qualifications gained can be used towards University entrance credits.
During July and August the site will be open full-time for University students and paying volunteers. They will be concentrating mainly on the newly discovered late Bronze Age/Iron Age ring ditch under the supervisional tuition of our archaeologists. However, there will be some continuing work on the chapel site to excavate and record some of the many skeletal remains still extant in the graveyard.
During this time we will also be open on two weekends, where for £50 interested volunteers can spend a saturday and sunday learning basic archeological skills.
