Jan 182015
 

Operation Turnip continued in Kent today despite poor weather. The team arrived just after 8 am at the Operational Base and started to clear away mud and brambles. We tweeted progress pictures throughout the day on Twitter which seemed very popular with our followers.

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Once the entrance hatch was lifted it became apparent that water had flooded into the OB again. The good news is that it was only about a foot of water and it had entered through the ventilation pipes and not through the main structure.

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The ventilation pipes were soon discovered above ground and dug out so eventually they can be made watertight.


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Team two then cleared more mud and found the hatch leading down into the Escape shaft.

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The scene inside the OB.

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Our team are not put off by a foot of water and get stuck in.

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Many many buckets later…..Note the two ventilation pipes left and right and the water tank in the middle of the room.

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The job is done…..for now. Next stage will be to make the Ventilation pipes waterproof and then re-decorate.

Our thanks to Jamie Burton, Alec Warren and Ben Lewis who worked very hard today to help project leader Phil Evans. Follow the progress of this project here

Feb 222012
 

Today we have appointed Dr Stephen Day BA, PhD as our resident Archaeologist.

Steve started his working life as an electrical engineer but after re qualified with the Open University and has now worked in archaeology for over 20 years, largely in Wales and England (although recent projects have taken him as far afield as Greece and America) and now owns a specialist Environmental-Archaeological Company based in Swansea.

Steve has directed many excavations, including those on the new museum site in the city of York and the excavation, recording and removal of a Roman mosaic found there Steve has specialist knowledge of Industrial Archaeology with publications including a book based on his PhD research on the lead mines of Wales and a volume on recent discoveries in the gold mines of Wales.

Steve has a particular expertise in Geophysics, GIS systems including analysis and use of Lidar data in topographic mapping including implementation and management of geophysical surveys.

Steve has always had a love of all things military, and even has a couple of vehicles, (big boys toys, as seen in the image above)

Feb 022012
 

We have now published the Stage Two report for our Coleshill Uncovered project.

Thank to John Winterburn and Anna Gow for producing the report and to the National Trust for allowing us permission to access the site.

Oct 222011
 

It has taken sometime but all the finds images from Coleshill Uncovered are now available to view on the Coleshill Uncovered website.

Please have a look through them and if you can identify any unknown items please let us know.

The full report from the week is due in early 2012. There are currently no plans for future work on site.

Jul 062011
 

This week has seen the continuation of CART’s Coleshill Uncovered project on the Coleshill estate in Oxfordshire.

More than 20 people each day are working on site to uncover and learn more about the training of the Auxiliary Units.

The project is being lead by Anna Gow and John Winterburn with help from other archaeologists.

So far we have uncovered the suspected entrance to another operational base. See below.

You can see there are two holes in either side of entrance. These are where part of the counter weighted system would have been housed. The drawing below was drawn at Coleshill and given out to Auxiliers as part of their course notes. It clearly shows the same system and notice the pulleys? Below the drawing you can see the pulleys that we have found.

We have also discovered so far what we believe to be part of a radio dial. In part of the woods that we are working they used to make TRD radio sets. About 250 in number. You can see below the dial and also an image of a modern mock up of the Auxiliary radio which can be seen at the Museum of the British Resistance Organisation.

Source: John Warwicker

More images can be seen here

The work at Coleshill will end this Thursday afternoon.

May 232011
 

 

 

 

 

After the success of the evaluation weekend work at Coleshill the National Trust has now been given the green light to stage two.

This is due to happen from Sunday 2nd July to Thursday 7th July at the Coleshill estate on the Oxfordshire/Wiltshire border.

In January 2011 the evaluation weekend (Stage One) located the remains of structures that were previously unknown, as well as discovering many finds including a very well preserved bayonet.

In Stage Two the team plan to re-visit the concrete bases that were previously cleared and will add trenches next to the structures, which will hopefully provide them with either further information about the construction of the original buildings.

Other remains like the suspected ‘Generator Base’ and military vehicle servicing ramp will be cleared of vegetation so they can build a clearer picture of their uses.

During Stage One, a number of strong signals were logged from both metal detecting and geophysics that the team plan to follow-up on.  Some small test trenches may be put in to further investigate these.

The Coleshill Uncovered team are looking for volunteers to help search for further evidence of the headquarters and training grounds of Churchill’s secret Auxiliary Units.

Anyone over 18 years of age can participate and no experience of archaeology is needed. As the project has no funding the organisers have to charge a fee of £75 per person and this will cover you for the week.

For more info and terms of involvement please go to coleshill uncovered

Feb 202011
 

Yesterday some of the Coleshill Uncovered team started to clean, log and photograph the finds from weekend one at Coleshill.

It took about 4 hours and we have processed about 60 items. These vary from a watch strap to a 2 inch mortar.

The final report from the first weekend will be complete in the next few weeks and then hopefully further work can be planned for the site later this year.

You can see some of the images from yesterday below.

Learn more about Coleshill Uncovered here