Prominent archaeologist to give talk about historic finds across the Wreake Valley
An archaeologist is to give a talk about key discoveries which have been made over the last few years at sites across the Wreake Valley.
Peter Liddle, who has worked across Leicestershire for more than 40 years, is giving the presentation at Hoby village hall, at 7.30pm on Wednesday November 18.
His talk, entitled ‘The Archaeology of The Wreake Valley’ has been organised by the Hoby & District Local History Society and all are welcome to attend.
The Wreake and, to a lesser extent, the Eye, valley features a rich archaeological landscape, spanning from prehistoric barrows and Iron Age farmsteads to significant Roman activity and dense Anglo-Saxon and Viking settlements along its river terraces.
There has been a considerable amount of archaeological work – fieldwalking, metal detecting, excavation and earthwork surveys – over the last few years.
Key discoveries include an Andesite ovate handaxe dating to roughly 500,000 BP found near Rearsby, Roman coin hoards and a major early Anglo-Saxon rural settlement active from the 5th to 7th centuries AD.
Peter will talk about these and how village names ending in ‘by’ along the river Wreake reflect significant Scandinavian settlements and late Saxon integration.
The talk attempts to pull this together to try to understand what we now know from Prehistory to the Medieval period.
Peter was awarded an MBE for services to community archaeology and is an Honorary Visiting Fellow at the School of Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Leicester.
Entry for non-members of the history society is £3 (pay on door) or visit www.hobyanddistricthistory.co.uk for more information.