Following the offical opening of "Trailing the Hidden Heritage of High Lodge" this companion site is now live
Project Activities Q1 2018
Below are selected images from project activities run during Q1 2018 as part of the history & heritage of the High Lodge site project by the Friends of Thetford Forest (FoTF).
Saturday 13 January - Exploring Earthworks at High Lodge
Horseshoe PitUsing GPS to help plot the circular bank and ditch earthwork.Learning how to use the dumpy level to record the profile of the earthwork.Reading the results from the dumpy level.
Saturday 20 January 2018 - Discovering the Landscape of Warrening
Presentation 'The Warrens of Breckland'.Walking to view the banks of Downham WarrenDiscussing the function of these banks.At Mildenhall Warren Lodge.
Friday 26 January 2018 - Discovering Burial Mounds
David Robertson explaining the distribution of the mounds in the landscape.Trekking through the Forest to Bunker's Hill Burial Mound.Pausing to view the medieval cross on the pilgrims' route to Walsingham.On top of the Round Barrow known as Mount Ephraim.
Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 January 2018 - Geophysics to locate the possible site of the High Lodge farmstead and the warren lodge of Downham Warren.
Plotting the location of significant scatters of building material.Learning how to set out the grid for systematic surveying.Receiving instruction in how to use the Resistivity equipment.Using the Magnetometer to record magnetic anomalies below the surface which might indicate foundations.
Saturday 10, Sunday 11 and Saturday 17, Sunday 18 February - Archaeological Investigation to locate the site of the medieval warren lodge of Downham Warren.
The first test pit is dug, using the geophysics results as a location guide.Sieving the extracted soil for artefacts.Very quickly, removal of the surface vegetation exposed evidence of the farmhouse.Volunteers recording the exposed foundations with the help of SACIC.
18 March 2018 - Conservation work on the SPA habitat
Gathering for the briefing on a bitterly cold morning.Removing self-seeded pine saplings and birch scrub to create open areas.This area is adjacent to the heritage trail and the work will provide open glades for plants to flourish.Butterflies and moths will benefit too, as food plants should grow more freely.
30 March 2018 - Condition Monitoring of Earthwork Sites
The first site visit on the training exercise, assessing the line of the warren bank.Deciding on the type and extent of the vegetation cover on the warren bank.