Last week I had the opportunity to go to Claire Bradshaw’s fascinating talk about Norfolk’s First World War Archaeology. Claire gave an overview of Norfolk County Council’s Historic Environment Service (based at Gressenhall) and the work that they do in managing and protecting known archaeological sites in the county. It was interesting to learn that as they do not do any digging these days, sites are identified through excavations that are done as part of planning applications, through community projects, ‘finds’ from certain areas and also through the use of aerial photos.
Claire spoke about various aspects of World War One archaeology in Norfolk from its defences such as pillboxes and batteries to training trenches, Zeppelins, the county’s airbases and local businesses who diversified to support the war effort.
If you are interested in archaeology, I would highly recommend Claire’s talk. She will be speaking in libraries throughout the county during the month of November. Full details can be found on the ‘Events’ section of the website.
To learn more about the work of the HIstoric Environment Service visit:
http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/Environment/Historic_environment/index.htm
A dig at Grimes Graves, Weeting in the Nineteen-tens. Photograph courtesy of Picture Norfolk
Kath
Norfolk in World War One 