News

24th April 2013

PCA has been excavating on land adjacent to the Almonry restaurant at Ely Cathedral and have found the remains of the "Gate of the Monks" (Porta Monachorum), also known as the Aetheldreda Gate, which was demolished in 1840. The gate was never recorded on any earlier plans of the town and so its exact location was forgotten.

The excavated remains of the western side of the gate consisted of a stone wall and was built in two stages, perhaps dating from c.1100-1150.

The gate had been built across a very substantial earlier ditch. This ditch which was infilled in the 10th -11th centuries AD is a very significant new find and could possibly be the first archaeological evidence for the defences built at the time when Hereward held on to the Isle of Ely against the Norman invaders in 1070-71AD.

6th March 2013

We have a new special report on the archaeology under London Bridge Station where PCA and Oxford Archaeology have been involved in a joint excavation. Click here to read more!

15th February 2013

Three talks have been added to our Talks and Lectures page.

16th March, Alexis Haslman, Senior Supervisor at PCA will be giving a talk on our excavation at Stevens Street, Bermondsey, at The LAMAS 50th Annual Conferance.

On Tuesday 9 April 2013, Alistair Douglas, Senior Supervisor at PCA will be giving a talk on The Roman and Medieval Landscape at Bermondsey Square, at New Cut Housing Co-Operative Hall.

Alistair will also be giving a talk on recent archaeological finds from Old Price's Candle Factory in Battersea, for The Battersea Society on 13th June 2013.

See Talks and Lectures for further info

13th February 2013

Museum of London, in partnership with PCA is running a course titled Archaeological Finds: From Earth to Archive.
The course is running from Monday 8th to Friday 12th April 2013.
Guided by experienced practitioners and specialists, participants will learn the basics of processing finds from archaeological excavations, using evidence from real sites. There will be a strong ephasis on practical activities, from sorting and packaging, to report writing and on-site conservation.

The course is being held over three sites: London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre, our London Headquarters and Museum of London.

See the poster for more detail.

8th February 2013

Iain Bright, Senior Archaeologist at PCA will be helping out at a Fulham Palace Archaeology Roadshow on Sunday 17th March. See the link below.

http://www.fulhampalace.org/visiting-whats-on/events-adults/

19th December 2012

Iain Bright, Senior Archaeologist will be holding a talk to the volunteers involved in this summer's community excvation in the Walled Garden at Fulham Palace. The talk is taking place on Tues 22 January 2013, starting at at 6pm in the Carriage room.
www.fulhampalace.org

11th December 2012

PCA have just joined Twitter Follow @PCAarchaeology

10th December 2012

PCA's rescue dig of the Roman Site at Faverdale featured in Current Archaeology (issue 273 of the magazine), has been nominated within the Rescue Dig of the Year category in the Current Archaeology Awards 2013. All nominees have been based on articles and books featured within Current Archaeology over the last 12 months.

Voting for the awards is now open, so if you wish to vote for PCA you can do so by going to www.archaeology.co.uk/vote or clicking on the Image to the Right.

Voting will be open until Friday 15th February, and the winners will be announced at the Current Archaeology Live! 2013 conference, held at the University of London's Senate House on the 1-2 March 2013.

The rescue publication culminated in our published Monograph and booklet, more details are available on the website. Click on the images for more information.

6th December 2012

PCA has published our new 2013 Calendar! Previous calendars have proved so popular that we are now offering them available for sale outside of our company.

Our new Calendar is priced at £4.99 incl VAT and postage

If you would like one of our 2013 Calendars please contact webmaster@pre-construct.com

16th November 2012 PCA in the news!

Some of our archaeologists have been on local news, talking about our excavations on the A11 road scheme. Construction work for the new dual carriageway is being conducted at present.

ITV - Anglia News
http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2012-11-16/archaeologists-unearth-rare-finds/

Heart
http://www.heart.co.uk/norfolk/news/local/elveden-tools-1500bc-dug-a11-dualling/

31st October 2012

The Institue for Archaeologists (IfA) 2012 AGM held this year at the Society of Antiquaries, Bulington House, London.
We are pleased to announce Dr Frank Meddens, Post Excavation Manager and Director at PCA has been elected to the Council of the IfA.

9th October 2012

Victoria Ridgeway, our Publications Manager and Jenny Proctor, Post-Excavation Manager at our Durham office recently attended The Roman Finds Group meeting at Vindolanda. This was a two day conference (5th-6th October) based within the grounds of Vindolanda Museum. PCA displayed information boards and showed finds from the site at Faverdale, which has recently been published as a PCA monograph. .

4th October 2012

PCA has been featured on both The BBC News and ITV News at our site in Elephant and Castle, where over 500 skeletons have been found. See the following links:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-19833671 Source BBC News © 2012 BBC

http://www.itv.com/news/london/update/2012-10-04/500-skeletons-found-in-elephant-castle/

Monday 1st October from 6.00pm at Museum of London

Dougie Killock (of PCA) and John Shepherd will be giving a talk on the Romano-British Temple Complex found in the Pre-Construct Archaeology Excavations at Tabard Square at Seminar Room, Clore Education Rooms, Museum of London

This talk will consider the remarkable discovery of a late 2nd-century temple complex precinct containing at least two Romano-Celtic style temples and ancillary buildings and structures. This was located far from the Thames waterfronts on the southern periphery of Roman Southwark, at the southern limit of this tidal area at the point where the islands and mudflats met the slightly higher, drier ground of south London’s mainland. At present this is the only Roman religious precinct to have been extensively excavated in London.

The excavations were particularly notable for the discovery of an inscription naming London (Londiniensi). This presentation will examine developments on the site in the Roman period and the implications for, especially, the temple precinct in our understanding of this southerly approach to the Thames and other religious sites on the Surrey and Kent side of the river, such as at Greenwich and Springhead. The publication of the excavation report is imminent.
The talk is taking place at the Institute for Archaeologists London Area Group Annual General Meeting.
This meeting is open to all, but any voting on AGM business is restricted to LAG members.

23rd August 2012

Archaeology Open Day at Stoke Quay, Great Whip Street

The excavations at Stoke Quay are uncovering evidence of the site's Saxon and medieval past.The tours will provide an opportunity to view archaeologists excavating the site and its medieval cemetery.

Free guided tours throughout the day, family activities and displays of some of the site's finds
25th August 2012
10am - 4pm
Ipswich IP2 8EY

30th May 2012

PCA held a highly successful launch event at the Centre for Local Studies, Darlington Library on Saturday 26 May 2012 to mark the publication of our 15th monograph 'Faverdale, Darlington: Excavations at a major settlement in the northern frontier zone of Roman Britain'. Ahead of the event, on Saturday 18 May Darlington-based regional newspaper The Northern Echo ran a two-page spread about the Faverdale site.

Undertaken in 2004 ahead of a major development for an Argos distribution centre, the work at Faverdale remains one of the largest archaeological fieldwork projects undertaken to date in County Durham/Darlington. The site was particularly remarkable in that the discovery of a significant Roman presence in Darlington was entirely unexpected. An exhibition of Roman artefacts from Faverdale was on display at the library throughout the day of the launch event. Visitors were able to handle the artefacts and discuss the project with PCA staff, including Jenny Proctor and Vicki Ridgeway, author and editor of the Faverdale monograph, respectively.

The official launch of the monograph took place at 2pm. Richard Alty of Darlington Borough Council – the main project sponsor - spoke about his recollections of the fieldwork in the summer/autumn of 2004 and paid tribute to PCA’s work to produce the volume. Durham County Archaeology Officer Dr. David Mason then spoke about the involvement of his colleagues – giving particular thanks to Lee McFarlane who monitored the fieldwork - and concluded by commending PCA on the quality of the publication.

Finally, Robin Taylor-Wilson, who managed the Faverdale project for PCA, added some of his recollections of the work and thanked project sponsors Darlington Borough Council, Argos and Durham County Council Archaeology Section. He also thanked the field team, the post-excavation specialists and the author and editor of the monograph and concluded proceedings by paying special tribute to the people of Darlington for their interest in the site at the time of the fieldwork and through their tremendous response to the exhibition on the day.

The Faverdale monograph is available to buy here

15th May 2012

PCA is holding a launch event on Saturday May 26th to mark the publication of our latest monograph 'Faverdale, Darlington: Excavations at a major settlement in the northern frontier zone of Roman Britain' by Jennifer Proctor. Jennifer is Post-Excavation Manager at our North Regional Office in Durham.
The launch event - which is free to enter - is open to members of the public and will take place at the Centre for Local Studies, Darlington Library, Crown Street, Darlington, DL1 1ND.

An exhibition of mostly Roman artefacts from the excavation will be on display from 11am until 3pm and PCA archaeologists will be on hand to discuss the objects and the site, with the official launch taking place at 2pm. Also in attendance will be Durham County Council's Senior Archaeologist, Dr David Mason and staff from the project's main sponsor, Darlington Borough Council.

1st May 2012

Charlotte Matthews (right in this photo), PCA's Head of Historic Buildings and Landscapes, has just completed her 7th consecutive London Marathon in 4hours and 2 minutes. This time gives her a Good For Age place in the London Marathon in 2013 and 2014. However, Charlotte’s next challenge is to trek part of the Great Wall of China in September 2012; she is fundraising for Naomi House, the Children’s Hospice in Hampshire, and has a target of £3,500.

30th January 2012

PCA has opened a new office in Market Harborough to cover the Midlands region, in addition to its already existing offices in London, Durham, Cambridge and Winchester.

Much of PCA’s work is the result of client commissions in order to satisfy planning requirements and it is an indication of the highly professional reputation of PCA that major prestigious projects are entrusted to it, for instance, the Olympic sites, The British Museum Exhibition and World Conservation Hall, the M74 (Glasgow motorway completion), Kings Cross redevelopment etc., etc. These projects have included aspects of outreach involving local communities which have won plaudits from Local Planning Authorities and English Heritage.

The launch of the new office was held at The Angel Hotel, Market Harborough, on Tuesday 31st January At the launch there were displays including stunning burial pots from a Roman graveyard recently excavated by PCA; display boards and an AV about that site and the results of various other high profile investigations.

"The launch of the Market Harborough office on Tuesday 31st January at The Angel Hotel, Market Harborough, has helped to establish a strong presence for the newest PCA office in the Midlands region. Already major projects are being discussed and we are optimistic that many more will be forthcoming." - Gary Brown.

6th December 2011

The award winning PCA publication 'Secrets of the Garden's is now stocked in Blackwells, the famous Oxford bookshop!

3rd December 2011

PCA was present at The second Cambridge Antiquarian Conference this year which took place on Saturday 3rd December. PCA were displaying Roman finds and pottery including some very special flagons from a recent archaeological excavation in Puckeridge. Mark Hinman, Regional Manager of our Cambridge office and Vicki Ridgeway our Publications Manager were present. The display was well received and complimented by many.

2nd December 2011

We have a special report on St Bartholomew’s Church available to read. St Bartholomew’s Church is a deconsecrated medieval church. It is currently being converted into a private home and therefore there was a requirement for historic building recording and archaeological excavation. Read about our work here.