Bardon Mill
· England
We were in Bardon Mill specifically to be volunteer excavators at Vindolanda and the blog post on that is here. This page is not about that experience but the days around that.
The campsite was a camping and caravan site at an eye watering £23 a night. I must get used to UK prices! it had all the basics, ie 2 toilets and 2 showers. With great views and a constant supply of free eggs , but was too close to the A69 so there was always the background noise of the road. it was walking/cycling distance to Vindolanda.
We did some great walks to Allen Bank (I used to sing a song about here as a child) and up along the wall, calling in at Housteds fort.
We met an some old poly friends for sunday lunch, in fact we both entertained and went to the pub with quite a lot of people over the two weeks but mainly people from vindolanda.
Other than digging at Vindolanda we took part in their jubilee celebrations, carrying torches in te processions and standing guard over a “beacon” which I would call a small firepit and talking to the brilliant “Marcus the medic”
Vindolanda – 3rd bum from the left isTracey’s Vindolanda -site at Bardon Mil was nice, with a constant supply of eggs Vindolanda – sycamore gap on Hadrians wall Hadrians Wall Houstead toilets Vindolanda – Hadrian’s wall Vindolanda – post excavations Vindolanda – Samian ware that I washed Vindolanda – Horse tooth we washed Vindolanda – John’s trench, digging under a third centurary fort Vindolanda – Antonine rampart trench, turf sods can be seen in the trench wall. Gill cleaning her boots. Vindolanda – lunchtime Vindolanda – Antonine rampart raft made of beech. Look carefully and you can see the turf sods in the trench Vindolanda – intaglio (a small engraved gemstone) found by a colleague in John’s trench Vindolanda – John’s small find, possibly two cremation pots Vindolanda – Johns trench after the heavy rain Vindolanda – Antonine rampart raft sunk under rain water. Vindolanda – Dougs key Vindolanda – Owl pot Vindolanda – Michael with column base and owl pot Vindolanda – Gill with samian pot Vindolanda – 3 Romans who have risen from the dead Vindolanda – small beacon (fire pit) for Queens jubillee Vindolanda – Jubilee torch procession Vindolanda – Jubilee torch procession Vindolanda – main jubilee beacon Vindolanda – Tracey and Wendy with Roman soldiers Vindolanda – Gill digging Vindolanda – John digging Vindolanda – in the rubble is the inner and outer wall of a round house. Trust Andrew’s word not mine. Vindolanda – these two column bases caused Andrew (in shot) to get very excited Vindolanda – Gill and Wendy. A great team Vindolanda – rampart raft 2 days after the rain Vindolanda – torches for the jubillee procession