Burgess Park Community and Training Dig 2010
28 Jun - 23 Jul 2010
Over the course of four weeks this summer both groups of youngsters and adult individuals had the opportunity to experience the basics of field archaeology in an urban environment with our annual community dig.
The dig took place at Burgess Park at the junction between Waite Street and Trafalgar Avenue, Southwark, London.
During the course of the dig, attendees were taught excavation techniques, finds processing, site archiving and other aspects of public archaeology.
Working on a post-medieval to early modern site, they were supported by professional archaeologists from Museum of London Archaeology and other specialists.
The dig was kindly supported by the Southwark and Lambeth Excavation Committee (SLAEC), who provided money for photography, fencing and machine hire.
Burgess Park and our findings
Burgess Park, which stretches for nearly one mile in length, was created following the near total destruction of the Victorian terraced housing which crowded this area through until World War II.
Aircraft bombers targeting London's docks had a habit of dropping unused bombs onto residential South London following their dock raids and as a result large areas suffered great devastation.
This aspect of the areas history is reflected in the fact that in the first two weeks of our dig our trenches did not reveal any building remains, so badly bombed was this stretch of London.
The park itself is named after the first lady mayor of Camberwell, Jessie Burgess, who is remembered in this part of London for the work she did as a councillor during the blitz.
Our key objectives for the four weeks of work on-site were to add to the topographical details of the park; catalogue our earliest and latest dated finds and to explore more the nature of the bomb damage suffered in this area.
For more history on Burgess Park, track down a copy of The Story of Burgess Park by Tim Charlesworth.
On site blog and photos
You can read about the results of the dig by visiting the Museum of London blog and you can see photos from the first two weeks (the Community Dig) at the Museum of London Flickr photostream [external link, opens in a new window].