Page 1065 - Reading Mercury

Pottery finds dating back to the 13th century and indications of a cottage of that
date, too, have made the archaeological dig at Wokingham, “well worth while.” The
dig was started four weeks ago and, despite the rain, has progressed rapidly.
The Director, Don Stewart, the Urban Archaeological Officer of the Archaeological
Committee for Berkshire, has been working to a tight schedule, as that part of Cross
Street and Peach Street, where the excavations are taking place, is due for
redevelopment and they have been allowed just eight weeks to complete their
investigations.
So far they have discovered signs of a fairly substantial medieval cottage with two
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fire-places, dating about the 16 century, and are uncovering another floor to see if
there is any evidence of a dwelling of the Saxon period.
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Their newest discovery of foundations of a 13 century cottage on the same site was
made on Friday. At the same time pieces of pottery were dug up from what was
obviously a rubbish pit nearby. In the pit were layers of shells, indicating that dwellers
in Peach Street, which in medieval times was known as Peche-street (French for fish),
enjoyed shell fish as a major part of their diet.
With Don is a team of nine young archaeologists, who received help from a number
of local enthusiasts at week-ends.
Next week the team hope to start a fresh dig at Cross Street, but near the junction
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with Rose Street, a much “older area” on the site of a 16 century house, burnt down
at the beginning of the last war.
Photographs, drawings and maps have been made of their discoveries. The site
supervisor, Janet Dowling, has travelled extensively in pursuit of her interests in
archaeology, including Israel, York and Gloucester.

ST. PAUL’S WIN QUIZ—JUST!
History repeated itself on Thursday last week when Emmbrook Junior School’s
team in the Wokingham District Council’s Home Safety Quiz was beaten by half a
point. As a practice for their match with St. Paul’s Juniors on Thursday, Emmbrook
played against their P.T.A. team and lost by 43½ to 44.
Against St. Paul’s at St. Paul’s School they lost by 40 to 40½ in an exciting match
which was only decided on the last question.
Mr. C.A. Fry, organiser and question master, posed questions on health, fire
prevention and first-aid; helping to judge the answers were Sgt. Bill Amor of the
Thames Valley Police, and Mr. Barry Price, member of the Wokingham District
Council Health Department.
The winning team, Philip Ball, Simon Meredith, Derek Hudson, Anne Gerrish and
Lucy Wickham, go on to the next round.
In the competition, teams from 24 schools in Wokingham, Winnersh, Shinfield,
Woodley and Crowthorne take part, with the finalists receiving a trophy and
certificates.
The competition between St. Sebastian’s and Oaklands was also very close and it
wasn’t until the third round that Oaklands managed to jump ahead and finish with a
clear lead of 33 points to St. Sebastian’s 27. The Oaklands team members were Susan
Belcher, Deborah Mays, Christopher Reece, Sean Pigeon, and Jonathan Ashdown.

M.P. RECEIVES ROAD DANGER PETITION
A 600-name petition protesting about road dangers in part of Emmbrook was
presented to Mr. W.R. van Straubenzee. M.P. for Wokingham, on Saturday. It came

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