A trip to the theatre

Thanks too to the Deputy Garrison Commander for popping along to view the work of the children - he was treated to his own private performance as a reward!

Shadows of the past

The puppet workshops are in full swing and today the children of Larkhill school year 6 (and some year 5) were joined by the wonderful Claire - puppeteer with the River People (http://www.theriverpeople.co.uk/). The children were asked to make a theatre with a screen from some old boxes and then to write some storylines around the War Horse theme. Some of their creations were magical and showed just how much they have learned about World War One. fantastic work everyone!

The Salisbury Journal

http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/11522116.Young_archaeologists_mark_war_horse_project/ Further news coverage for the project has come from the Salisbury Journal - lovely to see the local papers covering the hard work of the soldiers, volunteers, pupils and Julian thus far!

Wider Coverage

The project today received more coverage - this time on the DIO frontpage. the DIO (Defence Infrastraucture Organisation) owns and manages all Defence land. Hopefully this will expose the project to many that work on the military estate and who are the successors of those that served from 1914-18 https://insidedio.blog.gov.uk/2014/10/09/searching-for-war-horse/

Thanking the Lottery

The project is progressing at quite a pace now - having completed the archaeological dig, the next phase is for the schools to have puppetry workshops, then to examine the lives of local gunners and eventually to get involved in a major art project. All this would not have been possible without a grant from Wiltshire Council, and the generosity of the Heritage Lottery Fund - huge thanks to both. Judging by Harvey's photo, the lottery may have been around for longer than first thought....

Playing with light

Digging War Horse is incredibly lucky to number the amazing Harvey Mills amongst its list of volunteers. Harvey is a professional photographer (and how it shows) who has been recording the project for us as well as fulfilling his ambition of taking part in a dig. Harvey's website images of the recent open day can be found at http://www.harveymills.com/blog-2/digging-war-horse-part-2/ - check out all his other work too.

Open Day

Never mind horses, today it rained cats and dogs. Given th fabulous weather for the excavation the fact that autumn arrived with a vengeance today wa a bit of a shock. Not to be put off though, those that arrived for the open day today had lots to see. many of the excavation finds were displayed by project lead archaeologist, Julian Richards, whilst Richard Broadhead brought finds from the western front alongside his 'recruiting booth'. As it was a little colder that we were used to WW1 Range Stew and Anzac biscuits were a vital moral piece (thanks to Jay for this), and perhaps the stars of the show were the 18lb artillery piece and the Model T with Lewis Gun and support soldiers - adding to the overall WW1 feel of the day. Well done all

On Foot

Although we didn't find any horse bones (perhaps unsurprisingly), equine evidence was certainly discovered. Analysis of whether these were for Gun horses, cavalry horses, tranport or simply farm animals will follow but in some ways does not matter - those horses that started off as Farm animals were soon to be enlisted. Just like 'War Horse' really

From the earth

The archaeology at Fargo has yielded tantalising traces of the Great War. Although the horse hospital itself was ephemeral - there were several elements from the period; horse shoes, .303 rounds, buttons, buckles and cap badges. Several of these connected to the artillery, and others to the Anzacs - including the Australians whose presence here from 1916 was in large numbers. A superb album of photographs of the dig was taken by the wonderful Harvey Mills - see http://www.harveymills.com/blog-2/digging-war-horse/

Open Day

The excavations of the last fortnight were a great success in producing finds from the First World War period - including horseshoes. Some of the results will be posted here but, before this, there is the opportunity to see them for yourselves at the Open day at Larkhill school - Saturday 4th October 2014