Archeological Investigations

Introduction

Under a project created by Herefordshire Nature Trust with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, a total of twelve commons in Herefordshire have been targeted as part of the Community Commons Project. Garway Hill Common is one of these.

The overall aim of the Project is to record and measure the level of biodiversity upon the common land in order to form a management plan for each common to improve and promote the habitat of local fauna and flora as well as improvements to public access. The project also provided the opportunity to document and record known and previously unknown archaeological features within the Common landscape through a series of rapid survey assessments and specific investigations.

Commons are areas of high archaeological potential because they have seldom been subjected to the types of disturbance associated with intensive modern agriculture. Relatively little information about archaeological sites within common land in Herefordshire has been recorded in the past. The rapid survey assessment centres on the recording of archaeological features and their position within the landscape. Once the visible archaeological traces within each common have been documented and understood, the results can be combined with ecological records. From these, a well-informed management strategy can be developed to preserve and interpret the archaeological record alongside the other aims of the Community Commons Project.

The archaeological survey and investigation of Garway Hill Common, which has an area of 84.5 hectares, was selected as a pilot study for the Project. The fieldwork was carried out in spring and summer 2006 by local volunteers under the supervision of archaeologists from Herefordshire Archaeology, which is Herefordshire Council's archaeology service. Through autumn 2006, the archaeologists examined and documented the finds and produced a written report. The full report can be downloaded as pdf files through links at the top of each section.

Download the Full Survey Report

Introduction (PDF 38k)

Copyright © 2007 Garway Hill Commoners Association