Last week Wessex Archaeology ran a community project in conjunction with the Churches Conservation Trust at the Old Church of St Nicholas, Uphill. The project was organised to coincide with Heritage Open Days – a national four day event running which aims to open up some of our usually inaccessible heritage so that the public can come and view it.
 
The week involved a range of activities including metric survey of the church and churchyard, geophysics, test pitting within the nave and Polynomial Texture Mapping (PTM), a technique that uses photography to reveal faint inscriptions. The project saw the use of a Total Station, GPS, 2 Terrestrial Laser Scanners, a Ground Penetrating Radar and a Magnetometer. Staff from across the company, including the Built Heritage, Geomatics, Geophysics, Outreach and Fieldwork departments all came together to make it possible.
 
The event was widely publicised in the area and members of the public were encouraged to come along and take part in all of the activities. We had a great turn out with over 1000 people throughout the entire week! Much fun was had by all involved, staff and public. 
 
Some of the preliminary results of the week’s work are visible below.
 
Thanks to everyone that made it a great week.