Backgarden Archaeology

By Mike & Kate Pratt

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Questions, questions

It is said by the experts that Bishop Wilton is a planned village meaning that it was laid out in a regular way at some time in the past. But when?

The outline of the village formed by the surrounding lanes

A village or settlement that is concentrated at one spot in the landscape is called “nucleated” and it is thought that it didn’t happen by chance. But when did it happen?

Is one part of the village older than any other?

During the course of local history discussion and investigation a lot of questions like these arise. Some can be answered by consulting historical records. Some can be answered by studying the landscape. Some can be answered by scrutinising aerial photographs. But when all that fails it can help to look underground ….

Backgarden Archaeology

It was exciting to realise that we could be living over the answers to some of our pressing questions and we didn’t have to wait for archaeological excavations to be done elsewhere in the village, we could dig up our own garden!

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