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