Report on the Talk By Mike Stone on the Archaeology of Hullavington & Surrounding area.

Mike Stone is a professional archaeologist. He is currently the Heritage manager for Chippenham and the curator of the Heritage centre. The following is a brief outline of his talk concentrating more on the Hullavington element. Mike began by saying that not much archaeology is recorded for Hullavington and its history does not begin until the time of the Normans, and even then it tends to be sparse. The first historical record for Hullavington is Domesday and it records Hullavington, Bradfield and Surrendell as separate villages with populations of about 120, 20 and 70 respectively. So together there were about 210 people (it was not much different at the time of the Poll Tax in 1377. It was 708 in 1801, 478 in 1921 compared with about 1000 today if Wellington place is excluded). It is interesting to note that before the Conquest, Hullavington was held by Earl Harold. That's Earl Harold of Wessex; King Harold no less.

William the Conqueror gave Hullavington to one of his nobles, probably Roger Mortimer. His son Ralph held it at the time of Domesday and his son Hugh gave the manor of Hullavington to the Abbey of St Victor in Normandy in the late 12th century It is unlikely that either Bradfield or Surrendell were part of the gift. Hullavington was confiscated under the alien priories act (during the wars with France) and later given to Eton college by King Henry V1 in the mid 15th century (before passing to Eton college it was, owned by Queen Joan and later the Duke of Gloucester).

There is no written record for Hullavington before Domesday. Its pre-Conquest past can only be glimpsed with the aid of archaeology. The first evidence of any activity in the area is that of a flint hand axe found nearby at Seagry dating from the Palaeolithic (old stone age) period. The owner of the axe, if there was such a concept of ownership back then, was Homo Sapien Neanderthalis (Neanderthal man). There was no Hullavington then of course it was all trees with a sparse nomadic population of Neanderthals. There followed a long glacial period and, although the glaciers did not quite reach this far, the area was peri glacial with lots of snow and ice; too cold for people. About 12000 years ago the climate improved, the ice retreated and man began to re-colonise the area from the continent. This time the man was a modern human (Homo Sapien Sapien ). You could take one of these gents, dress him up in a dinner jacket and he would pass muster at the Savoy. Britain was still joined to the rest of Europe at this time, it is was the Mesolithic (or middle Stone age) period and the people were hunter gatherers. A scatter of Mesolithic flints were found in, what is today, Hullavington - Modern Man had arrived in our village and left his signature. The Neolithic (or New Stone Age) period saw man beginning to settle the land and farm it. They also began building monuments such as Long Barrows of which there are a number nearby, one is recorded as near as Grittleton. Neolithic tools such as: a Leaf shaped arrowhead, a stone axe and a Sarsen hammerstone have all been found in Hullavington.

Mike said there was no evidence of Bronze age or Iron Age activity, but he may not have been aware of some of the artefacts from these periods found in the parish; such as: a Bronze age barbed and tanged arrow head, an Iron age coin (quarter stater) found by a metal detectorist and two co-joined ring ditches on the airfield that are thought to be Iron Age hut circles. Perhaps the most prestigious find was the recent discovery of a decorated Bronze Age axehead. This was found by a metal detectorist and reported to the Museum in Cardiff.

In AD 43 the Romans invaded Britain and built a network of roads, one of which, the Fosse, forms Hullavington’s North Western boundary. Roman coins, jewellery, pottery and, more importantly, building materials have been found in Hullavington, all of which indicate Romano British activity and possible settlement.

Anglo-Saxon settlement in the east of Britain followed the departure of the Romans and gradually spread westwards putting pressure on the western British Kingdoms that came about after the Romans had left. After some initial reverses, the Anglo-Saxons finally won a decisive battle over the British kings at Dyrham in 577AD. Dyrham is not far from Hullavington , so we can deduce that Hullavington would have been colonised by the Anglo-Saxons at about this time. These were wild times and life would have been grim and brutal if Beowolf is any indicator. Hullavington is a Saxon place name (experts in this field put the construction of the ington part of the name at about 7th century) and it is clearly recorded in Domesday, so the fact that it was settled during those times is clear, but little archaeology exists apart from a bronze Saxon sword pommel.

Although no Viking artefacts have been found, history does record that the Great Danish Army of Guthrum attacked Chippenham in early 878 where king Alfred was over-wintering at his royal palace. Alfred escaped to the Somerset levels, raised an army and came out of the levels to defeat Guthrum in May of that year at Edington. The Danish army was large and it must have been foraging for food during its attack and occupation of Chippenham. With Hullavington only 6 miles from Chippenham, it is not impossible it was affected in some way by this event, either through providing men for the Wilstshire Fyrd or being on the receiving end of Viking recreational activities. But there is no archaeological evidence at the moment.

About 100 people came to the talk and we raised over Ł270 for the church roof fund. Many thanks go to Mike Stone for giving such an interesting talk and to all of you who came and made this such a successful event. Also special thanks must go to Bev Collins, Caroline Samuels and Linda Hadley for organising the refreshments and the door. I’ll never forget seeing them all, just before the start, huddled around a radio listening to the Archers while John Samuels stood in for them on the door. Evidently this episode was a crucial one.

This article was submitted by Paul Hadley