Cleeve Hill Grandstand Excavation

The site has been photographed, drawn and GPS’d and thanks to some brilliant volunteers has been backfilled and returfed.
We are very grateful to #CotswoldArchaeology for sending Anton Beechey to record the site using a high resolution GPS, and then take some amazing images with their drone.

We are building a better picture of the building and hope to return in 2026 to explore the inside  and some other features of interest.

We had loads of passing interest in what we were doing. If you would like to join us and take part in our future digs, go to Membership Sign-up and get involved.

Cleeve Hill Grandstand Excavation

Sunday 25th May 2025

In no time at all it is over for this year! Over four days, around 20 volunteers undertook 37 person-days of excavation of the front wall of the grandstand of Cheltenham’s first racecourse, near the top of Cleeve Hill.

We uncovered both ends of the foundations of the front wall and also identified the position of the main doorway, along with a number of other interesting features, helping us build up a picture of what this grand, but short-lived building would have looked like.  We recovered lots of coloured wall plaster, mouldings, possibly skirting boards, a few pieces of glassware and pottery and a single sequin!

All that remains is for us to measure, draw and photograph the site and then fill it all back in again. We hope to be back next year to find out more about the interior of the building, to help us to complete the picture.

We had loads of passing interest in what we were doing. If you would like to join us and take part in our future digs, go to Membership Sign-up and get involved.

Spring Newsletter

The Spring 2025 Newsletter is now available , with full information on the 2025 excavation programme, the summer visits and and lots of other useful stuff. To download the Newsletter go to the Publications page on the GlosArch website and follow the link.

Fieldwork and Summer Visits Programmes

The fieldwork programme for 2025 and this year’s Summer visits programme are out now. For more details of what we are doing and how to take part please see below.

Annual Subscriptions 2025-26

GlosArch members are politely reminded that subscriptions for 2025-26 fall due of 1 March 2025. Subscriptions remain at £20 for Ordinary (full) members and £10 for associate and student members. If you have joined GlosArch since 1 December 2024 your membership will run until 28th February 2026.

Payment can be made by standing order or bank transfer to Gloucestershire Archaeology; Sort code 08-92-99; A/c no. 67285787, or by cheque to our treasurer, Sally Nicholas, 57 Church St, Tetbury, GL8 8JG.

2024 Frocester Fund Award

We are pleased to announce that this year’s Frocester Fund Award has been given to Andrew Armstrong, Gloucester City Archaeologist, to fund scanning of a collection of fabulous small finds drawings by Phil Moss from the excavations at Gambier Parry Gardens in the 1980s (see Glevensis vol 56). The scanned images and associated documentation will be made available on line.

Grant Award by Jockey Club from GC100 Fund

GlosArch is excited to announce that we have been awarded £2000 a grant of from the Gold Cup 100 Community Grant Initiative administered by the Jockey Club and Rotary Clubs of Cheltenham. The grant is to support post-excavation analysis of finds from the excavation of the Cleeve Common Racecourse grandstands and the creation of a digital 3D reconstruction of the building based on the evidence we uncover. This will be available to view via our website and on the Common.

Winter Lectures and Summer Visits

GlosArch members can access the archive of recorded lectures by logging in to their account on the website and going to Resources>Recorded Lecture Archive.

Summer Visits 2025

The Summer visits programme for 2025 has been arranged by David Jones who has taken over the organiser’s role.

Withington Roman Villa. 

Date TBC

We will be taken on a guided tour of the recent excavations by archaeologist Simon Greenslade. This site comprises two Romano-British building complexes surviving as buried masonry with associated field boundaries and trackways situated on a limestone plateau. The first villa was excavated in 1811 by Samuel Lyons and again in 2006. At this time geophysical survey showed the second even larger building complex nearby which was also excavated. Simon Greenslade is leading the latest excavation of the site

September/ October. Date and time TBC depending on ongoing work.

Completed visits

Rollright Stones, North Leigh Roman villa and Witney

The annual coach trip was well attended. We were treated to a tour of the stones led by Tim Copeland, followed by a visit to North Leigh Roman villa, where the volunteer guides showed us the site and its mosaic and Tim Copeland explained the significance of the site and its relation to the Roman road network. We finished with a well-earned cup of tea in Witney, before returning home.

Churchdown Hill

Michael Hare, Phil Cox and Mike Joy took us on a walk around the top of this Cotswold outlier and its church, St Bartholomew’s. Michael explained why the church may be where it is and how it sits on a man-made mound. We then went to see the Iron Age ramparts, which indicate the presence of a small hillfort. We ended with a tour of the church which has many interesting features. Thanks to the Friends of St Bartholomew’s for giving us access.

Crickley Hill – Revisited –  New Date – Friday 1st August, 6pm

The earliest evidence of human activity on Crickley Hill dates back to the early Neolithic, around 6,000 years ago, when it was the site of one of the most important causewayed enclosures in the country. Later in the Neolithic around 2500BC, saw the building of cairns and a long mound on the promontory. After the abandonment of the Neolithic site, Crickley may have lain deserted for more than a thousand years. In the Iron Age, from about 700 BC onwards, a hillfort was built on Crickley Hill. This survived for around 100 years before being destroyed. The defences were reinforced and the site resettled around 500BC, but this too was abandoned. The site has seen farming, battles, sacred worship, tribal gatherings and settlements.

GlosArch have a long association with Crickley Hill going back to the time of Director of Excavations, Professor Philip Dixon MA D.Phil FSA FRHS, who kindly led the guided walk, which was attended by 35 members and guests. Phil’s deep insight to the site from the Mesolithic and Neolithic, through the Iron Age and beyond resulted in a fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable, if slightly chilly, evening.

Volume 3 of the excavation report,  as well as previous volumes, can be purchased by going to:  http://crickley.org/crickley/Publications.html. Volume 3, The Long Mound Valley, describes the Long Mound, Stone Circle, related monuments and the Short Mound

For reports on the 2024 visits please see the Autumn Newsletter, available to download by going to Publications/Newsletter Home.

If you have a suggestion for a visit in 2025, please drop me an email at mailbox@glosarch.org.uk

2025-26 LECTURE SERIES

The programme for the 2025-26 lecture series, is coming together and will be published in the next few weeks. Lectures are free to members and non-members (non-members are invited to make a small donation towards the cost of running the talks – £5 is suggested). Payment can be made by bank transfer to Gloucestershire Archaeology; Sort code 08-92-99; A/c no. 67285787.

As before, the venue for in-person attendance is St Andrews URC church hall, Montpellier St, Cheltenham, GL50 1SP. The lecture will also be broadcast on Zoom. GlosArch members will receive the Zoom link automatically a few days before the lecture. Non members can request the Zoom link by emailing: mailbox@glosarch.org.uk

To get a flavour of the range of topics covered in previous years click on Lectures below and follow the link.

Fieldwork

To take part, email fieldwork@glosarch.org.uk (members only).

Fieldwork Programme 2025

Plans are coming together for the 2025 fieldwork season. On the excavation front we will be returning to Cleeve Hill, Honeycombe and Severn Bank, Minsterworth. The centrepiece of the geophysics will be a major survey near Uley.

If you wish to volunteer for any of these activities, please email fieldwork@glosarch.org.uk with your preferred dates. Depending on the number of volunteers, it may be necessary to restrict the number of days individual participants can take part, to maximise the number of members that can be involved. 

FORTHCOMING ACTIVITIES

Uley – West Hill Roman temple

We are excited to announce that following a successful application to Historic England, we have received permission to undertake geophysical surveying within the Scheduled Monument area around the site of the Uley Roman temple on West Hill, near Uley Bury hillfort and Hetty Pegler’s Tump. The aim is to use magnetometry and resistivity to determine the extent the structures around the temple, which was excavated in the 1970s, within the scheduled area. 

We will be aiming to undertake 3 days surveying in the first instance, although this may need to be extended depending on the results. 

The work will take place between 9-11^th August, now the hay has been cut in the fields. Places are full for these first three days of surveying. If you would like to take part watch this space for more dates in the coming months.

Severn Bank, Minsterworth

After a year off, we will be returning to the grounds of Severn Bank, Minsterworth to continue our exploration of the lost building, seen on an 18^th century map of the village. Towards the end of the excavation in 2023 we discovered the remains of the foundations of one wall of the building. We intend to extend from the site of this trench to locate the corner of the building to enable us to determine its position and size.

The dig will follow on from the Uley geophysics, from 17^th-20^th August.

Recent Fieldwork

Cleeve Hill – The grandstand of Cheltenham’s first racecourse.

Sunday 18th, Monday 19^th, Friday 23^rd and Saturday 24^th May.

This activity is now complete. See above for a brief summary of the dig.

We intend to return to the site in 2026 to complete the investigation of the layout of this interesting site, with the aim of producing an interactive 3D visualisation of the building which will be publicly available.

Honeycombe, Miserden

22nd, 23rd, 27th and 28th June 2025.

This activity is now complete. Thanks to everyone who took part and helped to make such great progress with the excavation. Most of the building has now been excavated and has been recorded. A short report will appear soon on the fieldwork page.

Armscroft Park, Gloucester

On Wednesday 16th and Thursday 17th July we undertook a small geophysical survey in Armscroft Park Gloucester, looking for traces of Roman Ermin Street, which runs through the park.

Our results confirm the position of the Roman road, but show it is likely to be heavily disturbed.

Castlemeads – Test pitting

Following a series of geophysical surveys of earthworks on Castlemeads, Gloucester, as part of the Gloucester Festival of Archaeology, on Sunday 20th July, we undertook a one-day test pitting excavation over some of the most prominent features.

We found lots of evidence of Victorian activity on the site, but no structural remains. The mystery remains!

Geophysics

Resistivity and Magnetometry Survey in Leckhampton.

In December we undertook a small resistivity survey in the garden of a Georgian house in Leckhampton, Cheltenham. The results showed evidence of lost features  including a formally laid out garden at the rear and evidence of a possible carriage circle relating to an earlier building. Further investigation is being planned.

Ground Penetrating Radar Survey at Castlemeads, Gloucester. 19th and 21st August, 2024

This activity is complete.

In collaboration with Exeter University we have undertaken a GPR survey of the features on Castlemeads, Gloucester in the area previously examined by resistivity and magnetometry. we have identified some shallow sub-surface solid structures as well as the electric cables and some other much deeper features. Further work is being considered.

Magnetometry Surveying at Castlemeads, Gloucester 

This activity is now complete.

In rather wet conditions and after having to abandon the original survey due to flooding (it is on a flood plain after all) we managed to complete the magnetometry survey on a chilly, slightly damp December day.

The results show a number of underground electricity cables but also features which appear to correspond to the LIDAR images. The findings were presented at our members update meeting on 18th December.

Geophysics Training

If you are interested in receiving training on our geophysics equipment, please contact Phil Cox via: fieldwork@glosarch.org.uk as a further session can be arranged if there is demand.