The 700th Anniversary of the Warren - excavating the Cottage
June 10th was the 700th anniversary of the forming of the rabbit warren on Backwell Hill. Sir Richard de Rodney was granted the right to free warren by King Edward II on 10th June 1318. The Warrener's Cottage in Jubilee Stone wood dates back to the 1780s and was still lived in until at least 1843. See: The Warrener's Cottage
To mark this anniversary BET has started to uncover the remains of the cottage walls and hopes to excavate part of the interior, under the guidance of Vince Russett, ex-North Somerset county archaeologist.
We hope that the excavation will give us some clues about how the warrener and his family might have lived and worked. Already the inital clearance of soil from the walls is starting to transform the grassy mounds and to show the configuration of the old cottage.
Just a few work mornings later and the cottage walls are clearly visible together with the side entrance and floor.
During the excavation we have found many fragments of pottery plus some unexpected relics. These include what appear to be a wild boar tusk and two clay marbles from the late 1800s.
Our Anniversary Open Day was well attended and we were pleased to show lots of interested visitors around the site and our finds.
Follow the progress of the project in this gallery: Volunteers in Action 2018
Update September 2018: We hope to excavate the interior of the cottage in 2019. In the meantime the tops of the exposed walls have been protected with lime mortar to prevent rain and frost damage.
