Monday 17th June

Day 1 of Set-Up Week and I am awake early enough to hear Radio 4’s ‘Tweet of the Day’ as I head out to site. The droveway through the heart of the Roman town has been re-surfaced and now it runs like a superhighway though the sleepy green fields. What a treat not to lose my car suspension in a knee-high pothole!

My Site Manager Jon Tierney awaits me at the locked gates leading into the campsite. Jon arrived an hour earlier and is catching up on his sleep…..together we empty my bag of excavation keys onto my car bonnet as we search for the right ones. Success – and in we go! Greeting us are 2 green fields, recently mowed for us by Barry and Roy Bulpitt. But – otherwise empty….and waiting….Jon and I sip cardboard coffee and croissants as we review the week ahead. Above all…IT IS NOT RAINING!

Today these fields will gradually fill up….with key members of my team, with portakabins and portable toilets. All those months of preparation will come to fruition….I began planning this season back in January, and now it is the moment of truth. What have I forgotten?

10am on the dot and a call from Blythe with my first delivery of portakabins – Jon and I walk round and meet him in the Public carpark. Blythe is a member of the Silchester family now – he has been delivering our kabins for 6 years now and he knows our idiosyncrasies! By the end of Monday, more than half of my kabins are on site – and anyone who thinks my kabin layout is random – think again! This year shrinking budgets have forced me to only hire one generator, so all kabins must be placed on the west side of the trench, near to the kitchen so that we can all share the same aorta. I had great fun designing how to arrange my on-site accommodation and I am proud of the aesthetic result!

The kabins assemble along the west side of the trench

Blythe in action

Grand Designs – Eat your heart out Kevin McCloud

Gradually the team arrive: Dan, my Planning Manager sweeps in with his house on his back and all of his worldly possessions spilling out down the droveway. Dan snags a key campsite spot for his home from home – nestled behind the spoilheap he has a natural windbreak, sound barrier and a small piece of peace.

Dan makes an entrance

Wheeler Mansions

All mod cons

Next to arrive: Excavation Co-ordinator Nick Pankhurst and Supervisor Su Taplin – shortly followed by Site Technician John Brown. Tents sprout up, like brightly coloured mushrooms.

Jon’s tent

The multi-talented Mr. Tierney

John Brown’s Wine Emporium

Jon and Chief Fix-It Heather Browning

The site itself was bone dry – with only a sprinkling of algae green water in the bottom of the deepest features. What a contrast from the beginning of last season when we waded through depths of water and sucking mud.

Monday June 17th – a dry trench

One of our tasks for today was to set out a new trench! We have received Scheduled Monument Consent from English Heritage and with the blessing of landowners Hampshire County Council and the tenant farmers, the Bests, we will lay out and open a trench in the Insula to the south of Insula IX – Insula III just to the southwest of the forum basilica. Insula III will host an investigation! We are opening a 2 -season trench with a specific research question: what was the building revealed by the Victorians in the south-east corner of Insula III during their campaign of excavations in 1892? The Victorians thought it was an early Roman bathhouse – exciting in itself as there are only 2 other known bathhouses in the Roman Town: the public baths and those attached to the mansio (inn) at the South Gate. What is this building and could it be the source of the the re-used monumental masonry discovered in mid Roman building foundations in Insula IX?

So…..we lay out the trench in Insula III, and then in comes Roy Bulpitt to cut the grass. So exciting to begin afresh……it takes me back to 1997 when I first began Insula IX!