Happy New Year

It is still time, once more, to wish a very Happy New Year to all member ‘friends’. 

It was good to welcome our President, Jean Scott, to the FLARE Christmas Party in December and back to our committee and general meetings. We wish her all the best as she continues to make good progress after her operation.  We also extend our best wishes to Hugh Taylor who after a long wait finally had his operation in the New Year.  He is doing extremely well and will be back with us very shortly.  Both offer their thanks to all the friends who have been concerned and asked for news about them. 

FLARE/SLHA 

Your FLARE President and committee members have continued to consider the pros and cons of closer links, if not a full merger, with the Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology.  It is fair to say that as a committee we embrace a diversity of opinion. Much now hinges on direct discussions with the SLHA Executive; what benefits or drawbacks both societies might see, and what terms and conditions each would find acceptable.   The first ‘summit’ between Presidents, Chairmen and Committees takes place at Jews Court on 21 January and if progress is made a formal joint proposal could be worked out at further meetings. I would wish to stress that FLARE is responding to, and approaching the SLHA from a position of strength and vitality.  We do so conscious that our concerns and interests overlap even where they are not identical. We are both concerned about the future of Lincoln’s archaeology and with what we as almost parallel ‘specialist’ local societies can offer to our members in support of local archaeology and history.  We are also concerned about developing the best possible structure to achieve our ends. The SLHA, with its facilities at Jews Court, could supply what we need for our continued well-being and efficiency.  With a quality quarterly newsletter, a nationally respected archaeological journal, and manned offices and shop, the benefits to current FLARE members would be considerable. If, as we hope, agreement on the best way forward for both FLARE and the SLHA should be reached, then a joint proposal might be drawn-up for submission to our respective Annual General Meetings later this year. 

FLARE, with the SLHA and other local societies, continues to monitor and hopefully influence Lincolnshire County Council’s plans to form an ‘Integrated Cultural Facility’. The Council is reviewing its initial ideas following consultation with the Lincolnshire Cultural Alliance (LCA) and other interested parties.  The next meeting of the LCA will be held on 18 February.  We await fresh proposals.  

      John Wilford

CITY ARCHAEOLOGIST’S REPORT

Members should receive a copy of the events programme along with this newsletter. I am pleased that again we have been able to attract a high standard of speaker, and some of them are actually coming to us for the second time in a matter of a few years, but not to speak on the same topic! The committee has decided that it must impose an entrance charge of £3 for non-members from this year, a move that should encourage more people to join at such a bargain subscription rate. Please note the special arrangements that will apply for the talk on 14 May; tickets will not be available for several weeks, but make sure that you return your request for free tickets in good time, before they are made available to the general public via the Lincoln Book Festival. I am delighted that Dr John Curtis has agreed to find time to come to Lincoln and speak to us on what is a matter of international concern and interest. Let us hope that he is not dragged away suddenly shortly before the date to deal with another crisis! The Annual General Meeting will be held in advance of the talk on 18 June, with another internationally famous theme.  

As in some previous years, I shall be starting off the series with an updated account of the Lower Walled City, the report on which will go to press in the next couple of months. I also intend to show a few pictures of some of the discoveries made in the city during 2007.  These will include more elements of St Catherine’s Priory.  At the edge of the city, adjacent to the by-pass on Long Leys road, some preliminary tests confirmed the presence of a Roman field system probably linked to the farm or villa that turned up during construction of the more than 20 years ago.  

The next major report to appear, devoted to the finds from the well at St Paul-in-the-Bail, has been delayed slightly at proof stage by the recognition that some of the fragments of leather were actually part of a Civil War period pistol holster, the only one so far found in excavations in Britain. 

FLARE has sponsored a geophysical examination of two possible medieval tile kilns serving Lincoln near to the Washingborough boundary.  More investigations are needed here, on what is a site of considerable importance. It has also been agreed in principle to fund a preliminary geophysical test across the line of the suggested camber of the Roman Ermine Street at South Common, identified as part of the English Heritage field surveys here, and to try to take advantage of the availability of the former St Catherine’s church for investigation.  

Another date to note: on the evening of Saturday 23 February, there will be a double bill at The Collection organised by the Great War Archaeology Group. The speakers will be Dr Neil Faulkner, already known to many of us from his TV work and books, and a past performer to FLARE, and Richard Pullen, who is the author of the recent book ‘The Landships of Lincoln’.  The event will commence at 7pm and tickets cost £10; order from The Great War Archaeology Group, 19 Redcross Street, Grantham, NG31 8BT (telephone 01476-410622). 

Booking forms for the 14 May lecture and 17 May outing can be found by clicking the links below:

RUFFORD ABBEY and SHERWOOD FOREST - Saturday 17 May 2008

Lecture by Dr John Curtis, ‘The Archaeology of Iraq: Rape and Repair' - Weds 14 May 2008

Forms for the long weekend based at Durham University 18-21 July are also included with this mailing. The sites to be visited are important examples of Roman, Early Christian and industrial archaeology, and we are delighted that Rosemary Cramp has kindly agreed to speak to the group on the second of these themes.

Mick Jones