This illustrated talk by Shane Kelleher, will provide an
insight into the archaeological work that has been
carried out in the county over the past few years.
Whilst much of ‘normal’ activity ground to a halt across
the country during the lockdowns and restrictions,
construction in England was permitted to continue. In
addition, the number of planning applications rose to
unprecedented levels. Most of the archaeological work
carried out in the county these days is part of
development control/management within the planning
system, and archaeology is now very much part of the
construction ‘industry’. As a result, it was ‘business as
usual’ for the sector, but with remote working,
facemasks, hand sanitiser, and social distancing. In
addition to an increase in pre-application assessments
and fieldwork, the uncertainty of the early days of the
pandemic saw many archaeologists confined to base,
which gave them a lot of time to catch up with their
report backlogs.
Shane will give an update on the results of this
archaeological fieldwork in a talk which will flit from
medieval weirs on the county boundary with
Derbyshire, to a prehistoric ‘arena’ near Lichfield, and
from a medieval moated site near Uttoxeter, to a multi-
period site near Tatenhill with its origins in the
Mesolithic period, amongst other things. An update will
also be provided on archaeological work being carried
out as a result of the construction of HS2, and non-
planning related projects that the County Council’s
Historic Environment Team have been involved with
over the past few years’.
