In “A Roman settlement at Windmill Farm, Coton Lane, Tamworth”, Andrew Simmonds and others describe excavations which revealed a Romano-British aisled timber building and ditched enclosures of 2nd and 3rd century date, not far from another Romano-British farmstead on the edge of Tamworth and cropmarks near the River Tame which show enclosures and buildings. These sites demonstrate the extent of agricultural activity in south Staffordshire in the Roman period, complementing the better-known settlement at Wall. Charred grain and chaff from crop processing at the Coton Lane farmstead was mainly wheat, with some barley and rye. Pottery vessels found on the site were mainly those used for food preparation, cooking and eating, and they were predominantly greyware like that made at kilns found in Shenstone and Sutton Coldfield but also there was also some black burnished ware made in Dorset, shell tempered ware from the south Midlands, and some samian ware, including a bowl decorated with an erotic scene. The aisled building and the range of pottery suggest a greater degree of Romanisation than that of farmsteads on the river gravels.
The article on “Lichfield’s medieval urban growth”, by John Hunt, with Stephanie Ratkai and several others, brings together four reports on hitherto unpublished fieldwork by the now-defunct Marches Archaeology, the results of which, combined with other recent excavations, offer new insights into medieval Lichfield. They show that Minster Pool was enlarged or created in the 12th century, to create a watery setting for the Cathedral Close, inspired by contemporary castles; they demonstrate the extent of the Friary precinct, including burials in its cemetery, and its extension; and they overturn previous assertions of the town’s decline in the 13th and 14th centuries. Excavations at Sandford Street revealed a ditch containing a Roman box flue tile, which was followed in the 13th and 14th centuries by a series of pits, and underground hearths and a stone-lined garderobe. Although the pits may have been cesspits, the discovery of cattle horncores on the site suggests that some of them may have been used to soften horns in water for cutting and shaping. A three-sided masonry structure around a hearth or fireplace contained a horseshoe, a near-complete pottery jug and most of a pear-shaped vessel (illustrated in colour on the cover of the volume), possibly a ritual deposit as an antidote to witchcraft. Most of the pottery used in medieval Lichfield was produced relatively locally, including “whiteware”, made in south Staffordshire or north Warwickshire, and vessels made in Birmingham, Coventry and Nuneaton.
Margaret O’Sullivan’s “John Louis Petit (1801-68)” describes the background, life and work of a West Midland artist and writer whose achievements should be much more widely appreciated. His family, of Hugenot refugee descent, owned an estate at Ettingshall in Wolverhampton, which contained iron ore and limestone, and other local properties: John Louis himself had houses in Longdon near Lichfield and in Shifnal. He was an ordained priest, but he did not practise for long before he began a career of writing and lecturing on architecture, especially that of ecclesiastical buildings. His drawings were practical records of architectural details for use in his publications and lectures. He drew many Staffordshire and Shropshire buildings, including Lichfield Cathedral and St Mary’s church in Stafford. He advocated sympathetic restoration of historic churches and unsuccessfully opposed some of Sir George Gilbert Scott’s proposed alterations to St Mary’s.
Frank Parker and others, in “Forgers of Flash”, describe the analysis of molten metal splashes found in a coin-forgers pit. This revealed that the alloy was a brass with high lead content, to replicate the appearance, density, malleability of gold.
Shane Kelleher summarises recent archaeological work in Staffordshire, some of which will be published in detail in subsequent Transactions volumes. Prehistoric and Roman discoveries included Late Bronze Age charred grain at Saredon Hill Quarry, and a Roman farmstead with metalworking at Bilbrook. Investigations as part of HS2 have revealed an Iron Age settlement at Handsacre and a Romano-British farm at Streethay with a kiln and metalworking. Research on more recent periods of the past has included recording details of a walled garden at Shugborough, historic farm Buildings, and the power station at Rugeley. The “Chase through Time” project included lidar survey, geophysics and archival research and particularly highlighted remains of industries and military training, and “Transforming the Trent Valley” includes pillboxes on a Second World War stop line. Jon Goodwin’s summary of work in Stoke-on-Trent includes recording surviving “bottle oven” pottery kilns as part of the city’s Ceramic Heritage Action Zone, excavation of pottery production sites and historic building recording which has included a Methodist chapel. In Wolverhampton and Walsall, summarised by Ellie Ramsey, heritage assets have been identified as part of the Black Country Plan and Green Belt Review, and excavations have investigated an iron foundry in Bilston and 18th-century burials at a nonconformist chapel.
Books reviewed in this volume consist of a well-illustrated book on the historic development of the Peak District landscape, including field systems, planned settlements and mines, and a history of the Lane End plateway in Stoke-on-Trent, a type of horse-drawn railway linking potworks and other industries to canals.
