Over several weekends throughout April and May, AiM have been back at Northycote Farm, Wolverhampton, where we were continuing the recording from the previous weeks of excavation. We were joined by representatives from the University of Birmingham ArchSoc (Archaeology Society) and volunteers from the local community.
Site Information
We were excavating and recording a cottage, of which very little is known about its construction, purpose, or reason for demolition. From OS maps, it appears that the cottage was demolished between 1938 and 1954.
It is likely that this cottage was built at a similar time to Moseley Court, and was potentially used by its staff. Moseley Court started construction in 1815, and was completed in 1821. The remnants of Moseley Court (comprising what remains of the walls and cellar of the Regency style building) is located approximately 200m northeast of the cottage, and is also located within the Northycote Farm land. The building was demolished in the 1960s.
Another building of local historical importance, Moseley Old Hall, is located approximately 2km northeast of the cottage and was built in the 16th/17th century, c.1600. Steeped in centuries of local history, you can still visit this building today, following its restoration by the National Trust in the 1960s.
Aims of the Excavation
- To attempt to recover evidence for a potential date of the construction and use of the cottage
- To plan the layout of the cottage
- To attempt to identify why the cottage was built in this location
The Excavation
Throughout the three weekends at Northycote Farm, we focused on recording the layout of the cottage. To do this, we cleaned the areas of the cottage that had been excavated during the previous weekends of excavation, using hand brushes and trowels. Cleaning the site in this way makes the planning stages easier, and more accurate, as the different features and stratigraphic relationships of the site can be seen more clearly.
When the site had been cleaned (see the photographs below), we continued to create the site plan, which had been started in our previous excavations at the site. During the weekends that we spent recording, we added detail to the plan, including the layout of the tiled floor, brick floor, and other interior features uncovered so far.
For more photographs of our excavation, please see our Facebook page!
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