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Hugh Willmott

@hugh-willmott.bsky.social

2.9K followers 420 following 71 posts

Archaeologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield Archaeology🏺 monasteries ⛪ and the occasional cat 🐈‍⬛ https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/hpdh/people/history-staff/hugh-willmott https://www.hugh-willmott.co.uk/ https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7945-7796

www.sheffield.ac.uk

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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · 21d

A little teaser from @timeteam.bsky.social highlighting the forthcoming full length episode coming out soon looking at our work at Cerne Abbas... 🙈
youtu.be/lL1ucbcLwLg?...

This chalk giant is hiding a secret | Time Team Podcast

YouTube video by Time Team Official

youtu.be

Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · Aug 5

Pleased to see some coverage by the BBC of our excavations at #CerneAbbey which concluded at the weekend! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Cerne Abbey: Archaeologists unearth secrets of medieval hall

Archaeologists return to Cerne Abbas to unearth the medieval abbey and its Anglo Saxon predecessor.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · Jul 26

Today has been spent excavating an intact (if crushed) section of tiled floor in the east range of #CerneAbbey First laid down in c.1300, it’s survived remarkably well!🏺

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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · Jul 18

Pleased to welcome back team supervisor Walter on our excavations at #CerneAbbey 🏺🐈‍⬛

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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · Jul 9

The big man of Cerne looking resplendent at dusk yesterday. Whilst he usually grabs all the attention, The Trendle earthwork that sits just above him was looking even more fantastic!

Reposted by Hugh Willmott

Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · Jul 4

A week to go before @hugh-willmott.bsky.social's third season of excavations at #cerneabbey! Here's an @timeteam.bsky.social reminder of what a gloriously evocative site it is.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctpR...

Search for the Lost Abbey: Cerne Abbas | Time Team (Dorset)

YouTube video by Time Team Official

www.youtube.com

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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · Jul 5

...and of course we're looking forward to being joined again by local volunteer and chief mouser, Walter! 🏺 🐈‍⬛

Walter the cat calling for the diggers to get back to work

Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · Jul 5

This time next week all this (and more) should be exposed again as excavations recommence at #CerneAbbey 🏺
We'll continue to work on the late medieval hall but also start investigating the intriguing earlier features that began to appear at the end of last season...

Excavations in 2024 showing walls, a fireplace and floor surfaces from a hall at the monastery

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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · Jun 24

I should learn to hide better 🙈😉

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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · Jun 3

A small selection of medieval tiles found last year at #CerneAbbey 🏺
Perfect entertainment for any jigsaw enthusiasts out there!
#TilesOnTuesday

A selection of broken medieval floor tiles decorated with animals and floral designs

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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · May 22

Congratulations!

Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · May 22

As I was just telling Helen, I grew up in the shadow (metaphorically) of your fabulous monuments!

Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · May 22

There are clear caveats basing an interpretation on a single illustration, but this horse just doesn’t strike me as something cut in the 17th century; one can point to the legs, tail and emphasis placed on his manhood. Indeed did it even start life as a horse? We probably will never know 🤷‍♂️ (4/4)

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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · May 22

Mr Gee is said to have overlaid and replaced a smaller horse, and a single surviving illustration from 1772 shows it was very different. Conventional wisdom is that this horse dates from the late 1600s, but I’m just not sure... (3/4)

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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · May 22

The current design is said to have been cut by a Mr Gee in 1778 and a depiction from 1885 shows that it was largely similar to today’s horse, with subtle differences. The steepness of the hill meant that the horse degraded quickly and had to undergo repeated repair. But it wasn’t the first… (2/4)

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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · May 22

Thinking about hill figures, another I’m really interested in is the Westbury White Horse. What you see today was permanently ‘preserved’ to prevent erosion by being covered in concrete in 1957. But what lurks beneath is rather more interesting… (1/4)

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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · May 22

Unfortunately the area is largely covered by trees today, meaning that for the foreseeable future it will hard to have another look to see what, if anything, was really there. Only Lethbridge knew what he actually saw, and he died in 1971.
Perhaps that's what makes the site so intriguing! (5/5)

A photo of Lethbridge looking rather enigmatic!

Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · May 22

Furthermore, there are credible historical accounts of giant figures at Wandlebury, the earliest dating from 1605, and from this time on the spot was known locally as Gogmagog Hills, or variations thereof (4/5)

Another air photo of the hill figures after excavation

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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · May 22

But he was an experienced, albeit slap-dash, excavator and Keeper of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities at the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. So not the von Däniken type figure he is sometimes made out to be today (3/5)

The 1931 Cambridge Antiquarian Society report on Lethbridge's Anglo-Saxon cemetery excavations

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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · May 22

Whilst I don't believe for a minute the full 'montage' he published, I can't help thinking that somewhere behind this is a kernel of reality. Lethbridge was certainly a very unorthodox character both professionally and personally; he was an advocate of dowsing and a believer in parapsychology (2/5)

Like drawing of all the figures Lethbridge claims to have identified

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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · May 22

Talking again to @helengittos.bsky.social about hill figures, I'm reminded of a 🧵 I posted elsewhere about my favourite ones excavated by TC Lethbridge on Wandlebury Hill, Cambridge in 1954. His findings were dismissed by his contemporaries as a combination of natural & invented features (1/5)

Air photo of a figure excavated by Lethbridge and interpreted as the Mother Goddess

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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · May 20

With summer just around the corner, I thought I'd share one of my favourite tiles excavated at #CerneAbbey last year. Perhaps we'll find the other half in a few weeks time?
#TilesOnTuesday

A hand holding a medieval floor tile decorated with the rear end of a horse

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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · Mar 14

Wow, what better way to end a stressful week than to see one’s collaborative research featured on the cover of @appliedspec.bsky.social! All credit to @sheonashankland.bsky.social for leading this impactful project 🏺🦴

Dr Sheona Shankland @sheonashankland.bsky.social · Mar 14

Very pleased that my paper with @drjemmakerns.bsky.social @hugh-willmott.bsky.social & Adam Taylor on changes in #bone chemistry with #ageing made the March cover of Applied Spectroscopy! 🌈 😁
@sasspectroscopy.bsky.social @appliedspec.bsky.social

@lancasteruni.bsky.social @uofglasgow.bsky.social

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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · Mar 4

I appreciate putting "my favourite pub carpet" in a post is pretty niche...

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Hugh Willmott @hugh-willmott.bsky.social · Mar 4

Last week I had the opportunity to revisit my favourite pub carpet for the first time in several years.
It's experienced a lot of wear since I last saw it, and now looks even more medieval!
A perfect offering for #TilesOnTuesday ?

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