Updated: Saturday 29th October 2011

NAG member Graham Lewinton is a talented artist and has created this wonderful painting of the activities at the Summer Dig.

The site of the Summer Dig has now been refilled. A plastic membrane protects the exposed parts of the excavation along the eastern edge. This will make it easier to open the trenches again should further work be required.
The 30 days of excavation were only the beginning of the project. To research and catalogue the finds will take several years of additional effort managed by PreConstruct Archaeology. Navenby Development Corporation will continue to support this important work. A booklet about the site and other Roman sites in Navenby, should be available next year and more complete reports by 2012. It is hoped that many of the artefacts will be placed on display in the village.

Here you can find photos of the work in progress and some of the more interesting finds. Summer Dig Photos.
Here you can watch the video of the BBC Look North report on the dig.

The recent excavation work (the Summer Dig) funded by Navenby Development Corporation (NDC) and managed by Preconstruct Archaeology (PCA) with volunteer support from NAG and other local groups has resulted in a cooperative venture that is beginning to show us more about the history of Navenby in both Roman times and well before the Romans arrived. Of particular recent interest is the possibility of a henge located across the area of the Open Space adjacent to High Dyke.
A composite picture of geophysics scans of the area to the west of High Dyke recorded in 1994 as part of the surveys prior to construction of the new estates and scans of the eastern side of High Dyke made by NAG in 2007 as part of the High Dyke Survey Project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, shows evidence of a large circular feature approximately 130 metres in diameter. The Navenby Circle.
Archaeologist Jim Rylatt who is leading the Summer Excavation of the Roman site and has recently been involved with excavations at Stonehenge, has identified the circle as a possible henge and, if so, it would be the largest found in Lincolnshire and dating to as early as 2,500BC. The story was announced in the Lincolnshire Echo on Monday 6th July.
Other features shown by the geophysics are thought to be a pre-Roman enclosure with round-houses to the west of the circle and barrows to the north. A small circular feature on the eastern side may be another such barrow. Both sides of High Dyke show evidence of later construction above the early features which is thought to be part of the Roman settlement in Navenby.
Ermine Street, now High Dyke, makes a slight turn from the straight road to Ancaster just south of the site which puts the road through the circle. It is interesting to wonder if the Roman military engineers who laid the road deliberately turned to go through the circle and stamp their authority on the local population.
Further excavation will be needed to prove the circle does represent a henge - to find the ditch or ditches and signs of an embankment that would have been visible.

Pictures from Viking Day 7th June
Thanks to all NAG members who volunteered their time and effort to organise another annual event. The morning provided some good entertainment and a good turn-out of an estimated 300-350 visitors. Sadly, the afternoon brought pouring rain and we abandoned the event at 1pm with thunder in the air.
I still managed to get some good pictures which you can see in navenby.net Picture gallery

Jaqui Wheeler won the ladies' Best Costume competition and Adam Coates took the prize for the men.

The Costume Workshop attracted a strong turn-out on Saturday - with preparations well in hand for Viking Day on 7th June. Thanks to Pauline Loven for all her help.

Click for more photos.

The Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire is establishing a program of volunteer stewards to assess and document historic buildings around the county. Meetings are being held at various locations around the county. More details at Lincs Heritage website.

Each year, NAG holds a competition for local schools to design artwork for our event poster. This year's theme is The Vikings. The entries were independently judged by Carlton-le-Moorland Art Group.
Many thanks to all the pupils from Navenby, Bassingham and Coleby who entered.
The Winners

Movie clip
A movie clip of the Roman Day march along Ermine Street. See the link on the right. You will need broadband to view it or - right click the link and use Save Target As to save the movie to your disk and view it whenever you like.

Project Update
The latest update for the High Dyke Project from our work in 2008. High Dyke update

This shows a typical collection of finds from a single grid square with samples of Roman Greyware, Medieval pottery, building material and more modern items.