The Chiseldon Cauldrons were excavated by Wessex Archaeology, the British Museum, and volunteers from the Chiseldon Local History Group in 2004. Though the excavation of the cauldrons was completed so long ago there has never been the opportunity to complete any further research on the area. The Chiseldon Cauldrons site has been paired with Truckle Hill Roman bath-house this year under the Heritage Lottery Funded project ‘Celts and Romans in North Wiltshire.’ This is giving us the opportunity to complete the research on this exciting site.
On the 14th of October I finally had the opportunity to meet with members of the Chiseldon Local History Group and the metal detectorist who found the Chiseldon Cauldrons. We met at the Patriot’s Arms in Chiseldon, on what turned out to be a very cold, grey afternoon, to discuss what further fieldwork and research could be done to better our understanding of the site where the cauldrons were found.
The discussion at our little table did not stay on topic. The decision making process was littered with breaks to discuss other local history and archaeology: a near by Roman Villa, some ancient land boundaries – I even got to hear a local legend about some treasure buried in a barrow not far from the Cauldrons site. We were the last group in the pub that afternoon because we spent so much time talking about archaeology. The group’s local knowledge really shone throughout the entire conversation.
Despite getting distracted the meeting was successful, and by the end of the afternoon we had decided what fieldwork we wanted to do and what would come first. In the next few months the Chiseldon Local History Group and some other volunteers will be doing some field walking, geophysics, and even a structured metal detector survey of the site, along with some research into the other archaeology in the local landscape.
A few weeks after the meeting and we’re well on our way to planning the field walking, and after that there’s a wealth of work and research to follow. I’m sure that a group with so much enthusiasm for local history will produce some wonderful information about this exciting site.
Find out more about the Chiseldon Cauldrons.