My ‘great’ site this month comprises two sites – actually, two ships – linked by common stories of survival against the odds. In September 1992, the remains of a boat dating to the Middle Bronze Age were discovered in central Dover by workers constructing part of the A20 link road leading to Folkestone. A decade later, in June 2002, the skeleton of a mid-15th-century ship was discovered during the construction of a new arts centre in the middle of Newport. These are two of the most important finds of maritime archaeology ever made in the UK, and they have comparable stories of unexpected discovery, urgent recovery, and community campaigning to ensure their survival.
DIGGING DOVER
To commence with Dover, CA 25 (March 1971), CA 38 (May1973), and CA 57 (July 1977) set the scene of discovery across the 1960 and 1970s, the heyday of the ‘rescue’ movement, when archaeological sites in towns and cities across the nation were being identified, excavated, and – in a few cases – protected in the face of often unchecked redevelopment. Such was the story in Dover, where the Council for Kentish Archaeology (later the Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit) did sterling work on Roman, medieval, and later sites across the town. Most famously, this took place at the miraculously preserved ‘painted house’, part of a large Roman mansio (official hotel) for travellers, a unique survival that includes more than 400 square feet of painted plaster, making it the most extensive known north of the Alps. CA 196 (March 2005) gives fascinating detail on work in this period in an interview with lead archaeologist Brian Philp.
The scene was thus set for additional discoveries when new roadworks commenced in the centre of town in the early 1990s, with the Canterbury Archaeological Trust on hand to record them. In September 1992, as reported in CA 133 (March 1993), a group of timbers were spotted in the bottom of a contractor’s pit some 6m below ground level. Their potential scale and significance were rapidly assessed (the nature of the timbers and their ‘sewn’ connections immediately led the team to suspect a prehistoric origin), and additional time was granted to record and excavate them. The majority of the timbers had to be lifted rather than left in situ, as works in this area needed to go deeper than the find-spot. Work continued apace, with the boat cut into ten section for easier recovery amid great local interest: you can read a poem in CA 392 (November 2022) that speaks to that spirit of community engagement.
The boat lay on the historic foreshore of the River Dour and was partially damaged by the construction of a later Roman harbour wall; it showed signs of repeated repair before abandonment. In total, a section measuring 9.5m by 2.4m was recovered. By 2000, it had been conserved, and its display in a new gallery of the town museum won a Council for British Archaeology Achievement Award that year (see CA 168, May 2000, and CA 173, April 2001). More of the vessel remains in situ to this day, and – depending on different views concerning the true size of the complete boat – the section recovered could be up to two thirds of its full size. Post-excavation analyses established its broad date of around 1500 BC, in the Middle Bronze Age, as well as determining its distinctive construction: four oak timbers, with a long central plank sewn together using yew lashings and connected by lengthy internal wooden rails. CA 287 (February 2014) updated this story by means of an interview with the boat’s lead excavator Keith Parfitt. By this time, a half size reconstruction of the vessel had been created in order to examine its characteristics and capabilities, with Parfitt and his team confident that it could have made regular cross channel voyages. CA 295 (October 2014) is a fascinating read in this broader context, reporting on the full-sized replica of the similarly dated Ferriby Boat, built at around the same time (see also CA 191, April 2004, on an earlier, half-size replica Ferriby Boat). The wider context of these vessels is outlined further in CA 275 (February 2013) in a feature on prehistoric seafaring, and CA 243 (June 2010) had reported on an even older Bronze Age boat that was discovered at Moor Sand in South Devon and is now the oldest known vessel in the UK.
NEWS FROM NEWPORT
Newport, like Dover, is a historic port town which, in the post-war, post-industrial world, has struggled to find its place, not helped by redevelopments that have damaged its historic core: CA 53 (November 1975) reported on attempts to record these sites and structures. Just as at Dover, therefore, the scene was set for additional discoveries when work commenced on a new arts centre in the middle of the town in the early 2000s, with the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust on hand to record them. The centre’s orchestra pit and auditorium required deep excavation, and a sheet-pile cofferdam had been installed prior to these works. Among the first discoveries were a timber-lined drain and a stone slipway, both post-medieval. The team were then investigating a series of upright timbers along one of the proposed wall lines when it became clear that they had discovered the remains of a large ship, almost entirely – miraculously – contained within the cofferdam.
CA 181 (September 2002) and CA 184 (February 2003) reported at this time. The ship lay buried in thick estuarine mud, the starboard side having survived after becoming flattened out over the centuries. The port side, however, had been removed at some point in antiquity, along with most of the upper works; the cofferdam had cut off the stern and the prow, although parts of the latter were subsequently recovered. There were initially no plans to save the ship, but news of its discovery captured the public interest in Wales and beyond. Quickly, the Save Our Ship (SOS) campaign – the origins of today’s Friends of the Newport Ship – formed among the local community to press for the vessel’s excavation, recovery, reassembly, and display (see CA 314, May 2016). By the time of CA 193 (August 2004), the vessel had been cut into sections for recovery and removed from the site for conservation and analysis, and its future was more secure; an update on all this work followed most recently in CA 398 (May 2023). Subsequent issues of the magazine were therefore able to report more on the science and less on the politics, including details of the analysis of human remains found beneath it in CA 201 (January 2006) and – most importantly – of its Iberian origins in CA 273 (December 2012). The broader significance of the vessel in a Welsh cultural context is then examined in CA 358 (January 2020); see also CA 149 (September 1996) on the discovery, not far away, of a mid 13th-century vessel at Magor Pill on the Gwent Levels.
It is important to remember just how special the Newport Ship is, right up alongside the Mary Rose in terms of our understanding of late medieval/early modern ship technology, trade, and exchange. Additionally, both Newport and Dover are reminders of the power of public engagement, for they could easily have been lost were it not for dedicated community networks supporting their excavation, analysis, interpretation, and display. These are great sites indeed, supported by great people, and we are lucky to have them.
For more information on the Dover boat, which is on permanent display in the Dover Museum, see www.dover museum.co.uk/Bronze-Age-Boat/Bronze-Age-Boat.aspx. For more information on the Newport Ship, which is in the care of the Friends of the Newport Ship, see www.newportship.org.
About the author
Joe Flatman completed a PhD in medieval archaeology at the University of Southampton in 2003, and since then has held positions in universities, and local and – most recently – central government. Since March 2019, he has been a Consultancy Manager in the National Trust’s London and South-East Region, leading a team working on Trust sites across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. You can follow him on X: @joeflatman
