Time Team in Oakham

Any one that knows me knows that I love watching the programme Time Team on Channel 4. There is something I find fascinating how they find the remains of building in fields and build up a picture of what was once there and how the people lived. It like a form of detective work done against the clock and because the experts are so passionate about what they do the programme really holds your interest.

Current the televisions team of archaeologists are digging at Oakham Castle which boasts best example of a 12th century hall in Britain, but other than the earth works that is about all that remains on the surface. At one time the castle had walls, a moat, drawbridge and guard house and towers in defensive positions, but it was all on a small scale which reflected on the small size of the town. Written evidence suggest that the Norman castle which remains on the site replaced an earlier Anglo Saxon castle that was dismantled by Walchelin de Ferriers, Lord of the Manor of Oakham between 1180 and 1190 during the reign of Henry I.

The primary task facing the Time Team will be to catalogue the 12th century remains they find within the inner ward of the castle, but they are hoping to go back further than that. They are hoping to find the remains of the Anglo Saxon castle and attempt to discover evidence for the Anglo Saxon royal burh. You can see clips of the dig on the Team Time YouTube video channel by following this link.

They started woking on the dig on Monday and they will remain at the site until Friday. In order to complete their work the castle is closed off to the general public and it seems the press. Hopefully they will find what they are looking for and we will know more about this historic site but we will have to wait until the show is shown on Channel 4 between January and March next year.

Cold War History

Sometimes when you travel around the county you come across a bit history. It was while I was driving just outside Rutland, just as the sun was setting, that I came a bit of cold war history sitting on top of a hill. It was near Cold Overton that I found a Royal Observer Corps monitoring post.

The posts were built as part of the Cold War and they were in use until 1991 when the  Royal Observer Corps was stood down. Three men would have manned the station in the event of a war. They had enough food and water for three weeks. There job to monitor and report the detonation and blast from nuclear bombs, measuring radiation levels and reporting fall out. The posts were clustered in groups of three or four with one acting as the master post which reported back to group headquarters. In order for it to do this it was the master post was equipped with a VHF radio as well as communication system known as Tele-Talk. At the regional headquarters the reports of from the observation posts would have been plotted on large maps and with the addition of met reports used to make fall out predictions that could then signalled to the population. The signals would have been in the form of siren's, similar to those used used in the second world war, based at local police stations.

The positioning the post at Cold Overton post on a hill near to RAF Cottesmore was probably deliberate given that airforce base was once a V-Bomber base and would have been a first strike target. From the top of the hillside you get a clear view of Rutland and any strike over the airfield would be clearly visible making it an ideal location. There was  however one draw back for the three man crew, the close proximity to the airbase and the high level of fall out would have meant that they would have been unlikely to finish their three weeks of food. The radiation would have killed them first. 

Until recently the post was in very good condition, as shown in the picture above, but someone has now gone down there and removed a lot of the paperwork from the walls and other equipment. It seems a shame they couldn't have just had a good look around and left the place the way they found it like many before them with out looting the site. Thankfully a few of the sites have been preserved and there is one in Kettering which has been restored and has open days, the video is of one of the Scottish sites. If you want to what a good film on the effects of a nuclear war then watch Threads.