MAHG carries out its own geophysical surveys and members are encouraged to join in to gain an understanding of; the purpose of carrying out geophysical surveys; interpretation of the results; and, how they are used to plan future excavations.

Little Baddow Orchard:

Chelmsford Area:

Coggeshall Abbey:

Burnham:

Ulting Church:

Beeleigh Abbey:

Hadstock Church:

Bicknacre Priory:

Lawling Creek:

Little Baddow Orchard:

A recent geophysical survey at a Little Baddow Orchard area presented some interesting results and may be a target for future MAHG excavation. Results are shown below:

A further resistivity survey was carried out on the 27th April 2008 to see if there was any evidence of a possible kiln site in an area historically used for clay & gravel extraction for tile manufacturing. The results have persuaded us to carry some targeted excavations to resolve some interesting anomalies:

Field Report as at 10 May 2008;

Excavation of two sites have revealed nothing of significance. There will be no work on site this coming Saturday (17th May 2008) but there will be a meeting on site on Saturday 25th May 2008 to examine a ring feature. For further information contact either Brian Riley or Stuart MacPherson.

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Chelmsford Area:

We were invited by one of our Chelmsford members to carry out a resistivity survey to investigate some unusual crop marks. Brian, Stuart, Dave P, Bernie, Michael and Simon, armed to the teeth with resistivity kit, tapes, and 'stakes', etc, went to have a little look see.

These are the results:

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Coggeshall Abbey: 

With five MAHG members on site on Saturday the 20th May 2006 success was guaranteed! By late afternoon we had marked out and carried out a resistivity survey over four 20 m x 20 m grids which should have taken in all of the Abbey church area. The results of the survey are shown below. The data appears to show the foot print of the Abbey church. The next task is to report back to our hosts with regard to our findings and suggested course of action.

A copy of the resistivity survey report can be downloaded here:

Should there be any more detailed investigation this would most likely to be in 2007. We would like to thank Mr & Mrs Hadlee for inviting us to support them in their archaeological investigation of this fascinating site and for their warm hospitality.

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Burnham:  Dig completed 29th April 2006. Preliminary report has been completed and a copy is held in the MAHG Headquarters library. There are some lesser crop marks seen in standing crops in an adjacent field which may be subject to future geophysical survey (see Projects).

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Ulting Church: A geophysical survey was carried out along one side of the church in 2007, to establish the site of a demolished Guild chapel. The results were promising.

There may be an opportunity for MAHG to carry out a small scale excavation; the purpose being to locate the remains of lost a chapel which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

MAHG has put forward proposals for excavation at the site, which currently await the granting of a faculty.

MAHG hopes that it can provide material evidence for the existence of this chapel which vanished from human eye over 450 years ago.

Research by Dr Janet Cooper who, for many years was Editor of the Victorian County History, gives a full account of this chapel and much of what follows is based on that article (‘The Cult of Our Lady of Ulting,’ by Dr Janet Cooper, published in Essex Archaeology and History 2003).

In 1317, Thomas of Ulting, lord of Ulting Manor founded a chantry of the Virgin Mary, building a new aisle or chapel onto Hatfield Peverel priory church. This was abandoned some years later as there were not enough funds to maintain it.

During the course of the 15^th century, a chapel was built on the end of the west wall of Ulting Church.

The guild or fraternity to maintain the chapel elected two wardens and it had enough endowments to support a chaplain who was to pray for Edward 1V (1461-1483) and his wife, Elizabeth, both during their lifetime and for their souls after death. The chapel continued to attract bequests and, in return, prayers were to be offered to the benefactors and their souls.

The centre piece of the chapel was a statue of the Virgin Mary. Ulting became a place of pilgrimage in common with the shrines of Thomas of Canterbury, Our Lady of Walsingham and Our Lady of Ipswich.

When Edward VI (1547-1553) came to the throne, the catholic elements in the Church in England were increasingly removed and inevitably the chapel, with its veneration of Mary, was dissolved along with all the other guilds and chantries in the country. The chapel was demolished and its lead worth £8 and its timber, tile, glass, iron and stone worth £2 6s 8d were sold by the crown.

Although the church underwent restoration in 1873 to designs by the Chelmsford architect Frederick Chancellor when the east and west walls were rebuilt, it remains essentially a 13^th century building untouched by 15^th century alterations.

Dr Cooper concludes that this was because, in her words, ‘The energies of its late medieval parishioners clearly went into the chantry chapel, which was so completely demolished in 1549 that no trace of it or memory of its cult seems to have survived the 16^th century.’

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Beeleigh Abbey:  A number of such surveys have been carried out as a part of the planning process, with very much mixed results in view of the significant scatter of demolition debris. Surveys were conducted using a resistivity meter, magnetometry (by Essex County Council's Field Archaeological Unit), and even divining rods.

It is intended to carry out a further resistivity survey at a nearby site during 2008 where, according to the 1873 OS map, a building existed which has since been demolished. It is intended that an excavation of that site will follow. A nearby mound will also be investigated.

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Hadstock Church: Situated North of Saffron Walden, this is an impressive late Saxon building. The Hadstock Society were interested to know whether the church once extended beyond its present confines. Unfortunately the survey was conducted when the ground was very wet which might account for the inconclusive results.

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Bicknacre Priory: A resistivity survey of part of the site of the demolished priory revealed the clear outlines of wall foundations, but as yet there has been no request for an excavation from the parish council which owns the site. Further surveys are proposed to be undertaken in the in the final quarter of 2007.

Initial Resistivity survey results from Bicknacre Priory

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Lawling Creek:  The regular alignment of field boundaries on the Dengie Peninsula provided circumstantial evidence that this was once a Roman Imperial Estate. This assumption was strengthened by the considerable quantity of Roman pottery found on the adjacent foreshore of the River Blackwater. The results of a geophysical survey were inconclusive. The site may be revisited.

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