WEAG’s Activities
WEAG undertakes research and excavation work at many sites. These site are generally in North London and Essex. The work is carried out mainly at the request of the land owner or a museum or other organisation. As WEAG is a community archaeology group it does not undertake work which is more appropriate for commercial archaeological companies to undertake.
Currently WEAG is excavating at Copped Hall, on behalf of the Copped Hall Trust, investigating the remains of the 16th Century Tudor Mansion. WEAG has also undertaken recent investigations at other sites, including Wanstead Park and Woodford County High School; further work may be carried out there and on other sites in future.
Copped Hall and the Copped Hall Trust Archaeological Project
WEAG is currently excavating at Copped Hall, on behalf of the Copped Hall Trust, investigating the remains of the 16th Century Tudor Mansion. This is a building known as ‘Old Copped Hall’ to differentiate it from the later, still standing, new Copped Hall on the same site..
WEAG operates several excavations at Copped Hall and these are listed below.
Members Digs
The Spring Dig for WEAG members runs for nine consecutive days, usually from the last Saturday in May to the first Sunday in June. The format combines the usual digging activities with other work to progress the accession of previous finds and input to the reporting process.
This session is for WEAG members only, all of whom are invited. No prior experience is needed but PLEASE DO NOT JUST TURN UP – let us know the dates you expect to be available (email coppedhalldigs@weag.org.uk).
Please be flexible and cooperative about the things we ask you to do: what we ask will depend on what needs to be done, and you will have opportunities for both digging and recording, to suit your preferences. We do not charge a fee for this dig but all our materials, from wheelbarrows to finds bags, need regular renewal, so donations are always welcome.
Public Digs
Archaeological Experience Weekends
If you are have never dug on an archaeological site and would like to experience one then WEAG, on behalf of the Copped Hall Trust Archaeological Project, run a number of Archaeological Experience Weekends for absolute beginner. These digs are open to the public during July and August and include three Archaeology Experience Weekends (for absolute beginners).
For more information see the Experience Weekends & Field Schools page and the reports on the Informal Reports page
Field Schools
For those who have more experience we run two 5 day Field Schools running from Saturday to Wednesday.
For more information see the Experience Weekends & Field Schools page and the reports on the Informal Reports page
Wanstead Park and Other Activities
Wanstead Park
This report summarises the results of the Work Phase of the archaeological evaluation carried out by the West Essex Archaeological Group and the Wanstead Parklands Community Project on Wanstead Park, Epping Forest in the London Borough of Redbridge.
This report summarises the results of the Work Phase of the archaeological evaluation carried out by the West Essex Archaeological Group and the Wanstead Parklands Community Project on Wanstead Park, Epping Forest in the London Borough of Redbridge.
The programme of work was initiated by the Wanstead Park Community Project with the support of the West Essex Archaeological Group. The overall aim of the project was to increase the knowledge af the archaeology of the Plain; an open area on the south side of Wanstead park. It was also hoped to be able to add further knowledge regarding the whereabouts in the Park of a Roman villa, suggested by the discovery in 1715 of a lavish mosaic. Relevant licences were received, on application, from the City of London and work has been carried out intermittently since 2007.
An initial work Phase of geophysics was carried out in 2007-8 over the Plain. Magnetometery and Ground Penetrating Radar surveys were carried out in unison and the results revealed an active archaeological landscape beneath the surface of the Plain. Geological formations were also identified. An auger survey complemented the geophysical survey. This was carried out by the Museum of London Archaeology Geoarchaeological team.
Interpretation of the geophysical results was hampered by a lack of knowledge of the depths of the archaeological remains in other areas of the Plain. Therefore, six evaluation trenches were excavated in 2008 at various locations. These revealed the nature of the natural geology as well as indicating the presence of cut features, of pre-Roman date. All of these features were seen in section only.
A further limited programme of evaluation trenches was carried out in 2009 to examine archaeological features in a plan order to assess survival of archaeological deposits. These reveal a ditch of late Iron Age or Roman date as well as a number of linear Roman features.
The full report Wanstead Park. Archaeological Evaluation 2007-09 can be viewed in PDF format.
Woodford County High School For Girls
These are many and various. One springs to mind and the is the digs carried out at Woodford County High School For Girls as part on an educational experience for the students.
The full report Geophysics and Test Pit Investigation at Woodford County High School June/July 2018 can be viewed in PDF format.
