Today was an open day for people from the local villages of Castle Combe and Ford. As predicted the day was lively and exciting.
The volunteers are still working to reveal more details of the forecourt, and continue to excavate in the area of the newly discovered wall. There is a stone surface just starting to emerge alongside one of the forecourt walls. The area around the ‘altar’ is also still being investigated in the hopes of discovering a surface remaining at its base.
I spent my day giving tours to people who decide to come out for a walk and visit the site. Mid-day, just as I said good bye to the first tour group, I heard someone call Phil. There is an unmistakable tone to someone’s voice when they have found something exciting. When I turned around to see what was going on a volunteer was standing up in their trench, holding something small in the air. A Truckle Hill first had been found - a coin! As our tour group had not quite left, they had the opportunity to take a look at the coin just after it was found. We couldn’t have hoped for a more exciting finish to the morning.
Enthusiasm at an all time high, lunch was spent passing around a book on the Shrine of Apollo at Nettleton. Nettleton is one Roman Mile from the site, and the book had some wonderful examples of altars in it, though they don’t seem to quite match the base that has been uncovered here at Truckle Hill. After lunch the volunteers returned to the work they had been doing in the morning, and I returned to giving tours. The day continued to be a success, with a large number of visitors arriving for the afternoon’s tour, and the stone surface, in-fact flagstone paving, partially uncovered near one of the forecourt walls.
As today is day 11 of a 14 day excavation things should be starting to wrap up. I won’t have the opportunity to visit the site again until day 13, and can’t wait to see what else changes while I am away from site.