This project was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and Calstock Parish Council.
The Calstock Parish Heritage Project was initiated in 2010 to encourage the local community to understand and engage with their landscape heritage. Tamar Valley AONB were successful in a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund and received a £35,500 ‘Your Heritage’ grant; without this support this successful project would not have been possible.
Over the past two years, local people have attended a series of free training days in artefact identification, geophysical survey at Cotehele, field walking, building identification, and more! A major part of the project was a community archaeological dig at the site of the Roman fort on Church Hill, Calstock in October 2011. Twenty volunteers took part, and it was noted by one as “the best thing I have ever done!”
The project was completed at the end of 2012. To celebrate we held an exhibition ‘Uncovering the Past’ at the Tamar Valley Centre throughout January 2013. Over 300 people visited and it was a real success. Thank you to all who came and got involved! The exhibition is fully transportable and is now available for anyone to have at their meeting or venue – we already have bookings for April and May and June. Keep checking back here for more dates!
21-25 May 2013: Manor House Inn, Rilla Mill. 11.30am-3pm & 5.30pm-9pm. Free. TVAONB Project Officer Sam Barnes will be giving a talk on the project on the 20th May 2013, at 7.30pm at the Manor House Inn. All are welcome.
1 June 2013: Calstock Village Hall (TBC). There will be a village fete on the same day; why not combine a day of ice cream and fun by the river with a peek at the exhibition?
2-4 June 2013: The Old Chapel, Calstock. Open 11am-5pm. Free. Tea and cakes available 2-5pm on the Sunday.
Click below to find out more about the different areas of this project:
(Please note that links open in a new window and Adobe Acrobat reader is required for some of the pages; download it here)
A major archaeological excavation of the Roman Fort at Church Hill, Calstock in October 2011 provided a group of volunteers with hands-on experience whilst learning about the historic development of the area. Every day’s events were blogged on our website, and this can still be read here.
The Assessment Report has now been completed and it can be read or downloaded here
Footage from the community dig has been edited and complied into a short film, including the context of the discovery of the fort and the development of settlement on Church Hill, plus feedback from some of the volunteers and interviews with Chris Smart. You can watch it below (and it will hopefully also feature at some of our touring exhibition venues!)
Chris Smart has written an information booklet about the discovery of the fort. Unfortunately we have completely run out of free copies of the booklet, but it is available to download by clicking here.
Unveiling the interpretation board at Calstock Roman fort
An interpretation board has been installed near St Andrew’s church. A group of local people attended the unveiling on the 26 January 2013, including Hilary Bracegirdle (HLF Committee Member), Dorothy Kirk (Calstock Parish Councillor) and Sam Barnes (TVAONB Project Officer.
Late last year the Calstock interactive heritage map was launched, showing people where archaeology is located and providing the opportunity for people to add their own special places and local knowledge. You can visit the map by clicking here.
Instructions on how to use the map are now available as a downloadable document which you can save to your computer or print out. We hope that all the glitches that have been encountered have now been ironed out. Find the instructions here.
We have also put together some information about what the different parts of the map mean; view it here.
The Interactive Map now has its own Twitter feed! Follow @CalstockMap for snippets of information about the Parish’s hidden (and not-so-hidden) historic delights!
If you have any queries or questions about the map please contact Sam Barnes at the AONB office.
In March 2011 Eloise Kane and Penny Cunningham ran a field walking training event near Metherell as part of the HLF/Tamar Valley AONB project. You can read or download the report here. The finds from the event are available to view at the Tamar Valley Centre; please contact Sam Barnes if you wish to see them.
In July 2011 Tamarside Archaeological Survey directed two sessions of geophysical investigation within the historic deer park on the Cotehele estate. The report is now available to read or download here, and there are more photos and feedback from our enthusiastic volunteers included in the ‘Uncovering the Past’ exhibition! Why not take a look when it comes to a venue near you?
This refined analysis of the landscape of Calstock Parish, drawing together previous research and reports and looking at the landscape with fresh eyes has just been completed. We will use this work to inform our AONB management plan and also as a basis for new historic research projects in Calstock Parish and the wider valley area. Read the report here. The maps will also shortly be added to our Interactive Heritage map.
The work was delivered by the University of Exeter. Dr Chris Smart will be giving a lecture on Historic Landscape Analysis for the Calstock Parish Local History Group on the 26th October 2013 at the Tamar Valley Methodist Church (just down the road from the Tamar Valley Centre).
Although the project has now finished, its legacy will continue through this website. Copies of all the project reports and other products, such as the film and archaeological finds, will be held at the Tamar Valley AONB offices and Calstock Parish Archive.
The Uncovering the Past exhibition is available for anyone to have at their venue or event. Please contact Sam Barnes, Project Officer if you are interested.
Some of the projects will continue into 2013, through the enthusiasm of our volunteers. The research into the historic routeways of Calstock Parish has been completed. Find out more about it here. This year we will be analysing the historic data and walking the footpaths to think about their management and condition. (this project is running in conjunction with Calstock Footpaths Society, Calstock Local History Society and Calatock Parish Archive).
KEEP IN TOUCH!
Keep checking back here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @TVAONB and like us on Facebook to get the latest news and information on opportunities. We are also running historic environment projects through Cordiale – why not take a look at our dedicated project pages?
To know more or find out about any of the above projects, please contact Samantha Barnes (Historic Environment Project Officer): sbarnes@tamarvalley.org.uk or call 01822 835032.