Activities during 1999
Many members of A.P.A. have spent much of their time during 1999 working on the Culverwell Project and many thanks are due to them all. Thanks are also due to members of the Borough Council and the Town Council and many members of the public for all their interest and support.
We had obtained an EU KONVER grant of £1,500 from the Borough Council for the CW Project and had achieved ENTRUST (Environmental Trust) status and registration. This is quite an honour for the Group as vetting for this registration has very strict criteria. We can now apply for further projects to be funded and we can also sponsor other local worthwhile environmental projects.
We have also obtained a grant of £15,000 from Hanson Environment Fund (including the 10% contribution from Konver) for implementing the CW Management Plan. A structure of split poles over the area known as Area A of the habitation site was erected by Jeff Peaple with help from Nigel Copperthwaite and his son Luke. A lot of thanks are due to those who came to help on site, also with re-excavating and tidying up old excavations. It can be said that we have an excellent and attractive structure in keeping with the environment and atmosphere of the ancient living style; a good compromise was reached between the need for attractive display and academic correctness. Almost all the trenches were backfilled with geo-synthetic material over the archaeological features and grit strewn over that and then earth from spoil dumps; some were left with grit only to demonstrate the methodology of backfilling and to enable easy opening of areas if required for academic interest. More work remains to be done, particularly regarding display and presentation.
The long-awaited Opening Day was a great success. The site was formerly opened by Prof. Paul Mellars of Cambridge University, who cut the proverbial red ribbon (kindly supplied by Marie Palmer) and then spoke about the uniqueness of the site and the excellence of the presentation and the research over many years which have greatly contributed to the knowledge of a previously little known period of the past. Present were also Norris McWhirter, two mayors, councillors, officials from the Borough Council and many other well-known locals as well as a large number of people from further away - Barrie Bull, Mike Meekums, Bambi Stainton, Dick Kitchingham, Myfanwy Stewart and many others who have in the past been involved with CW. Thanks to all who helped in practical ways on the site on the day; thanks to` Dan and staff of the Pulpit Inn who gave very welcome support regarding liquid refreshment (a glass of which was poured over the protective cover as a libation to the past and a good luck wish for the future!). There was a big Press presence and the event resulted in three TV items and articles in The Dorset Echo, FPN, Weymouth Guardian, Portland Magazine. Thanks to Hilda Swinney, our own local reporter, for her sustained interest over many years.
The field on which the site is, will continue to be used by A.P.A. for various `Heritage Projects' , particularly during the Portland Festival and Archaeological Open Days; it can be made available for group or individual visits throughout the year by contacting the Director, whose phone number is on the Notice Board at the site. It is hoped that the entrance fees and voluntary contributions by visitors will go some way towards paying for the annual maintenance of the site. It . is already attracting attention from other groups, some outside Dorset. It is hoped that in this way the Culverwell site will continue into the future to act as a focal point and `meeting ground' for local archaeological enterprises and interests.
The long-term future of the site receives attention in the Director's Will. APA will continue to have seven year leases, at a time, of the site but will be bound by strict rules - not to make site available to anybody other than a person or a group who will use it strictly only for archaeological or heritage purposes. No further excavations are to take place for 50 years after present owner/Director's death.
The CW Excavation Report was finished in August and -is 260 pages long with many figures and plates. Thanks to KT Thomas, M. Stewart, John Gale of Bournemouth University and others for specialist contributions. Thanks to Dee Reilly for help with plan and section drawings, Bambi Stainton for artefact drawings and Martin Blundell for help with computer programming. The publication has been accepted by British Archaeological Reports (BAR) and is expected to appear in early December. As this academic report will be rather expensive (approx £40) and is likely to interest only professional archaeologists, Susann is busy writing a much abbreviated version of it, which, hopefully, can be published in 2000 in a format of a popular style book. It will be entitled The First Stones of Portland. (i.e. a bit of a pun on the large and venerable old Stone family of Portland). A two-page summary of the long excavation Report is already available from Susann.
During the year APA has become involved with the plans for the Jurassic Coast Project and we are now also a member of the Dorset Coast Forum which, hopefully, could result in the Portland coast being declared part of a proposed World Heritage Site. Much work remains to be done and APA Director is keeping in touch with the organisers of both these projects at Dorset County Council.
Several of our members have decided to `go back to school' and are doing courses with Weymouth College, Bournemouth University and Exeter University Distant Learning Department. This is great, as it means that their potential for future involvement with APA's work is so much increased. We all wish them happy, successful studying.
After a great deal of agitation from our director, APA has become much involved in the local planning processes, particularly after the appearance of her book Ancient Portland which, in the last chapter is quite scathing about the loss of archaeological knowledge and objects on the Island during the past, as a result of quarrying and development - often involving the quite deliberate destruction of hundreds of burials and finds. As a result of this APA now regularly receives a list from the Council of all Applications for development. We have made several objections in areas regarded as archaeologically vulnerable or have suggested that pre-development assessments should be made in accordance with PPGl6.
During the year APA has had several requests from the two local stone companies for help in doing predevelopment assessment of fields in which they are interested. This presented the Committee with something of a dilemma as we felt that, while we were most interested in the situation, which could limit destruction to antiquities, we lacked the manpower and the funds to undertake such large and firm commitments. As most of our members are people who still have to work for their living, they cannot be available - at short notice to undertake rescue excavations (mostly during working hours) should important finds be made in quarries or on development sites. The present Director of APA is a professional archaeologist (albeit now semi demi retired!) but not in a position to do physical hard labour. Also, our insurance policies would not cover us for this sort of regular work - particularly not in deep quarries. We, therefore, reluctantly declined the offers of contracts and suggested that reliable Contract Archaeological firms should be used. However, the Director is happy to be able to report that a good relationship has been formed with a number of Contract companies operative in south Dorset and this may lead to a productive situation of co-operation between us and them in the future. The Director is due to help AC Archaeology with the preliminary assessments of land owned by Hansons on the Island, using the extensive knowledge she has gleaned throughout the past forty years of the archaeological potential of local fields.
Apart from this pending work, it can be said that the coming year is likely to be a very busy and productive one. Some more work remains to be done on the Culverwell site - particularly regarding presentation and display. It is hoped that a good lively programme of Heritage Projects can be planned for the coming year - the first of a new century. There are hopes that we may be able to take part in further excavations and that, perhaps we may be able to direct further work in the areas round the Old Lower Lighthouse.