Wessex

Stonehenge

Stonehenge: the story of an icon

This Stonehenge paperback will sell, probably deservedly, very well. Its text gives a suitable level of detail, while also reflecting current mainstream (and therefore English Heritage) views, and hence is correctly pitched for its audience – namely the interested bystander,…

Opposite Looking north east over recent excavations led by the University of Reading in the grounds of Holy Trinity Church, Cookham. Headed by Dr Gabor Thomas as part of the university’s Middle Thames Archaeology Partnership, the project’s findings are helping to illuminate the location of a long lost Anglo Saxon monastery, associated with a powerful 8th century queen.

A lost monastery revealed? Investigating an Anglo-Saxon community at Cookham

In the 8th century, Cookham minster was the focus of a decades-long power struggle between early medieval kingdoms, but over time the religious community’s location faded from memory, despite its association with a powerful Anglo-Saxon queen. Now excavations in Berkshire are thought to have brought its remains to light once more. CA Editor Carly Hilts spoke to Gabor Thomas about what has been found.

A story of two castles: tracing the origins of two fortifications in the March of Ewyas

Straddling the border between Herefordshire and Monmouthshire in the lee of the Black Mountains, the parish of Longtown has the remains of two castles. One is a popular visitor attraction in the care of English Heritage, with a stout-walled round keep. Half a mile away is another, in the form of a large earthen mound. When the members of the Longtown & District Historical Society decided to investigate, they realised that little was known about either castle, so they set out to find out when they were built, by whom, and why there were two in such close proximity. Current Archaeology's Chris Catling reports.