EVERYONE WELCOME. MEMBERS FREE AND VISITORS ONLY £5
Meeting Location
Furzebrook Village Hall, Furzebrook Road, Wareham, BH20 5AR
https://maps.app.goo.gl/uaQgNVm2rLutPRvZ7
2025 – 26 meeting schedule
17 Sept 2025
Small Monuments in a Broader Landscape: The Late Mesolithic & Neolithic at Druce
AGM and talk by Lilian Ladle
In a small area at Druce Farm, wooden posts and a series of deep pits constructed between c. 5000 – 2700 BCE commemorate the transition from hunter gatherers to the first farmers in Dorset. This is reflected in the excavated finds which illustrate changing landscapes, and newcomers bringing fundamental transformations in lifestyles and beliefs
15 October 2025
A tale of two kilns: Roman pottery production at Arne, Poole Harbour
Phil Trim
From 2001 to 2004 Wessex Archaeology carried out investigations as part of The Moors at Arne Coastal Change Project. Revealing evidence for Bronze Age exploitation of the wetland environment, including the unique find of a 3500-year-old timber spade, and Romano-British industrial activity. This talk details the excavated evidence for pottery production during the Romano-British period against a background of the industrial landscape of Poole Harbour and the results of experimental archaeology examining the kiln technology discovered on site.
19 November 2025
Antiques Antics – A Show and Tell
Tim Medhurst
Tim is a coin specialist, antiques dealer, and TV presenter. He is a regular on BBC’s Antiques Road Trip and Celebrity Antiques Road Trip. He will bring a selection of intriguing objects to both educate and amuse.
3 December 2025
Bestwall Quarry excavations, Wareham
Lilian Ladle
Between 1992 and 2005, excavation at this 55 hectare gravel extraction quarry uncovered 10,000 years of human activity. Mesolithic hunter gatherers and Neolithic farmers fashioned the underlying flint into tools. Bronze Age farmers set out the first fields and made their own pottery and Iron Age folk followed similar lifestyles. In the Roman period, a vibrant pottery industry developed – their pots were sold all over Britain and on the continent. A hoard of silver coins attest to its economic vitality. In the Saxon period, extensive iron-working and charcoal burning left their mark. Finally, during the 17th century, evidence was uncovered for the location of a small battle which took place during the English Civil War.
Our Christmas night. Celebrate Christmas with a mince pie and drink, there will also be a raffle.
21 January 2026
The Mortar Wreck – a 13th century shipwreck
Tom Cousins
The discovery and investigation into a ship wrecked in Poole Bay carrying a cargo of Purbeck stone mortars and grave slabs. The ship was constructed with Irish oak timber dating from 1242-65.
Where was it sailing from – and where was it going?
18 February 2026
Treasures from the mists of time. A token gesture.
Karen Brown
Stories of love, lust, convicts and choirboys. Every coin and artefact that we unearth has a story to tell. In this presentation you will be able to hear some of these fascinating and true tales, and see many original finds.
18 March 2026
Maiden Castle’s War Cemetery
Martin Smith
Shedding new light on how we should interpret Mortimer Wheeler’s ‘War Cemetery’. Following the first scientific dating of the burials, new conclusions are presented as to why these people were laid to rest within the ramparts of this iconic site.
15 April 2026
Church path, Iwerne Minster, Dorset: A Anglo-Saxon Cemetery
Richard McConnell
In the summer of 2025, Context One excavated of part of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery probably relating to a lost minster. Over 40 burials were uncovered, revealing a carefully laid out graveyard with rows of men, women, and children, as well as areas seemingly reserved for adult males and another specifically for the young. Dating from the late 7th to the 10th century, this site offers a rare glimpse into early medieval life, death, and belief in Wessex.
20 May 2026
Through the mists: Exploring the hidden prehistoric archaeology of the Isle of Portland.
Andrea Frankham-Hughes
The Isle of Portland has a rich archaeological history, but is little understood in comparison to the rest of Dorset. Archaeologist and Post Graduate researcher Andrea Frankham-Hughes explores the hidden evidence of Portland’s prehistory, with a focus on the Iron Age and her work on the enigmatic site found by Susann Palmer and AC Archaeology at Weston in 2006.
17 June 2026
Drowning in Dorset. The rise and decline of the water meadow systems in Dorset
Paul Cheetham
Drowning is the term for the annual flooding of the many extensive engineered water meadows to be found in Dorset – the specialist agricultural workers who did this were called ‘drowners’. Water meadows were a key element of the so-called ‘sheep-corn’ agricultural system that produced cereal crops to support the burgeoning towns and cities in the run up to, and during, the Industrial Revolution. This reliance on homegrown corn had reduced drastically by the end of the 19th century, and so almost all the water meadow systems had been abandoned and/or fallen into disrepair before the middle of the 20th century. This talk will consider the social and economic aspects of this agricultural engineering achievement, how the systems worked, why they were abandoned, and the unlikely knock-on effects for helping interpret some important archaeological sites of Dorset.