Operation Bishops Challenge 3, 18 and 19 February 2023.
During February 2023 over 20 RAF personnel and their families succeeded in investigating the archaeology of 2 fields near RAF Waddington. An excellent weekend and some amazing finds. Below the full report is attached including our participants feedback.
On Friday 3rd Feb 19 participants met with Wings to the Past personnel to start their archaeological journey. The Lincolnshire Historic Environment Record (HER) followed a presentation on Wings to the Past with an introduction to the record and what Op Bishops Challange can add to it. The participants learnt how to discover Lincolnshire heritage using the Lincolnshire Heritage Explorer. Dr Derwin Gregory of Bishop Grosseteste University then introduced the site we will be working at, he enthuse about his recce the previous week when each field walking square had generated bags or artefacts.
Then on the 18 - 19 February, working with our partner Dr Derwin Gregory of Bishop Grosseteste University, over 20 RAF Service personnel and their families from several Lincolnshire RAF units investigated the heritage and archaeology of a significant manorial site. The participants, including Service personnel, partners and children undertook 2 days of field walking, working as a team they systematically collected artefacts. The finds generated enabled us to better understand what might have happened in those fields throughout history.
The site near RAF Waddington had already produced amazing finds from a recce weekend earlier in the month and Wings to the Past were hoping for the same and the site didn’t disappoint! It was known that the site had had many phases of occupation, and this was certainly reflected in the finds. The highlights were many worked flints, lots of roman pottery, medieval glazed ware and other medieval artefacts as well as lots of post medieval items. The participants had a great time and commented about how much they enjoyed it and learned from the experience. Dr Derwin Gregory commented “their (the participants) enthusiasm, professionalism, and hard work was really refreshing, and they were a joy to work with. I am excited by the prospect of working more with them in the future”. One of the children said, “I loved finding things and being closer to the mud I could see more than my mum and dad”. The experience reminded one of our team about the joy of archaeology. Katie, a commercial archaeologist whose husband is Serving RAF said “I forget how exciting finding the past can be, this weekend, seeing the joy on people's faces has reminded me why I enjoy archaeology”.
