For many of our regular diggers this was the first opportunity in 2021 to let loose with our mattocks and trowels.

We have opened three trenches (TP3, TP4 and TP5) to investigate features of the Itter Crescent Villa beneath the Fane Road allotment site.

Friday 8th October

Just three of us today tasked with prepping the three trenches. Turf neatly removed and laid out. The first few centimetres of top soil removed. And not a mechanical digger to help!

Saturday 9th

Help arrives. A bigger team arrives and for a couple of hours we are joined by 12 young people from the Young Archaeologists Club, YAC.

A sunny and warm October day.

All trenches make progress. In TP3 we discover a Roman wall with classic herring-bone foundation – probably connected to one last seen in May 2019.

In TP4 we soon reach the lighter layer of archaeology. In part we are re-opening an area last seen during the community dig in 2014. More questions than answers but plenty to contemplate. Many tesserae. A pit. Lots of stone, tiles and other debris. Spot the very nicely detailed box flue tile.

TP5 was largely the work of Phil. He was looking for an Iron Age enclosure ditch. That did not appear – but there was some nice Nene Valley pottery – and an interesting glass bottle stopper.

The photos below were taken on the final day as we cleaned, documented then back-filled.

View north over villa site to Paston Church

Many thanks to all those who took part. It was good to see both the return of many regular volunteers and the participation of a number of new members. This was another successful excavation that met its principal aim and generated much interest from allotment holders.