Some early finds Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014
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We are now on day 3 of Plugstreet 2014. We have got a wide variety of finds coming out of the trenches at Chateau de la Hutte and Plugstreet Wood._
The Finds Team always get quite excited when we can identify and provenance some of the objects we receive. For example, the bottle fragment below didn’t look much when it came in. After cleaning we could read the words “Royal Warrant”. Some cursory research revealed this is likely an Idris Ginger Beer bottle – a delightfully British find in rural Belgium! Lots of complete bottles of this type have been found on the Somme battlefields.
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 Idris Ginger Beer bottle _
Although most people think of fighting in this part of Belgium being associated with the First World War and especially the Battle of Messines in 1917. However this ground also was fought over during May 1940 when parts of the British Expeditionary Force attempted to delay the German advance and keep the “Dunkirk corridor” open for a bit longer. We were excited to find some German cartridge cases. These were cleaned to reveal the headstamps (markings on the base of the case which indicate such things as date and place of manufacture). In this case we had one brass case round made in Magdeburg in 1936, while others were of copper coated steel made in 1938/39. _
 German Mauser round |
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Filed under: A Dig Diary, Archaeology by
Finds Room
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Back in Plugstreet Monday, July 21st, 2014
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The team assembled outside the Auberge at 9am today. This year we are investigating two sites behind the front line, one a point marked on the maps from 1917 onwards, the other situated on the highest land in Allied hands prior to the Battle of Messines.
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On of our two trenches in the grounds of La Hutte Chateau, with a curious spread of cinders and debris from the building.
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The other trench has also revealed a small amount of demolition rubble and evidence of communication wire.
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In the woods we have opened two trenches, one in search of the light railway, the other in search of the feature on the maps.
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Filed under: A Dig Diary by
PlugStreetTeam
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In preparation for our 2014 excavations Monday, July 14th, 2014
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The team are currently preparing for the 2014 trip to the battlefields. As you can imagine a lot of work goes into researching potential targets for excavation long before we arrive on site, many hours are spent examining maps, documents, war diaries and photographs alongside geophysics results in order to maximize our limited time in the field.
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As this year sees the centenary of the start of the Great War, team members have been exceptionally busy all year with our own projects and working with other groups to help others learn about their own families and local communities. Already we have seen a large increase in the volume of contributions of stories and photos of those who took part in the Battle of Messines to be listed on our website, every one unique and a great addition to building the bigger picture of events. If your relative was one of the many men involved in the battle, please consider adding their name to our site along with any details you have.
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If you are looking for help with researching your relative, you may find the The Wartime Memories Project help with research useful, they also have a huge collection of stories from all aspects of the war.
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We have also recently been sent a copy of the excellent free booklet 1914-1919 As Reported At The Time, which has been produced by Historic Newspapers as a teaching resource. Teachers and education institutions can apply for a copy via the link.
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Filed under: A Dig Diary, Archaeology by
PlugStreetTeam
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