Eyes Down

I post about the past.

Both senses.



So, it was by pure chance that I learned of not only an archaeological dig below Trendlebeare Down, but that they were having an open day that very day that I was there. [How about that? Jammy or what?] My intentions were focused on Yarner and tweety birds therein, but I wasn't going to turn up the chance to look down for a bit! :)


So, after having lots of fun under the trees,

Fun

Fun

Fun!

No, not getting tired of them any time soon..  ;)


Anyways, I headed down to the confluence of Bovey and Becka to see what they'd been up to.

The answer was Vinnicombe Farmstead; a brave attempt at settling the valley floor, though not a hugely long-lived one. What you saw at the dig were some walls, with a doorway and a couple of hearths, plus trays of assorted finds. Great if you're into that sort of thing, rocks and rubbish if you're not.

Time for pictures;

The back wall, from the outside

The stable/stall, with a store space to the right, house to the left

Hearth in the right side room

Hearth in the left hand room - the kitchen

Bread oven set [round] set in the side of kitchen hearth

- hearth on upper right, oven wall upper left

The building is rectangular, with a central door opening to a pink-plastered central corridor separating two white-plastered rooms. The rooms each had a hearth* and glazed windows, the right being a 'bedroom' and the left a 'kitchen', with a bread oven set into the side of the hearth. Attached to the east side [right as you look at it] were two more rooms - these without stone front walls [presumably closed with wood or possibly wicker]. The nearest and largest is thought to be a stable or stall [it being that sort of size], the outer a storage area [you'd just fit in a small cart and a plough, say]. The back of the building has a built up revetment to presumably give protection when the rivers got frisky - the floor level, shown by the door lintel amongst other things, was set up.


The finds included some nice dating pottery, lots of broken pipes [ooh arr], nice bits of glass, and even some flint tools. These include a Mesolithic microlith, found under the front door lintel [maybe for luck? It seems unlikely to be random 'end up there' especially as it's in good condition]. The flints might have been washed there, but the Bovey/Becka aren't the mellowest of streams when they flood, and it seems unlikely that flints would be in decent shape after being moved by them.



All in all a very nice little site, and well worth the merry slog climb back up the hill.


Be Seeing You..




[[*Not usual, especially in a little place like this.]]