Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.bsky.social
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
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
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!🏺
July 26, 2025 at 1:11 PM
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!🏺
Pleased to welcome back team supervisor Walter on our excavations at #CerneAbbey 🏺🐈⬛
July 18, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Pleased to welcome back team supervisor Walter on our excavations at #CerneAbbey 🏺🐈⬛
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!
July 9, 2025 at 5:26 PM
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!
...and of course we're looking forward to being joined again by local volunteer and chief mouser, Walter! 🏺 🐈⬛
July 5, 2025 at 7:21 AM
...and of course we're looking forward to being joined again by local volunteer and chief mouser, Walter! 🏺 🐈⬛
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...
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...
July 5, 2025 at 7:21 AM
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...
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...
A small selection of medieval tiles found last year at #CerneAbbey 🏺
Perfect entertainment for any jigsaw enthusiasts out there!
#TilesOnTuesday
Perfect entertainment for any jigsaw enthusiasts out there!
#TilesOnTuesday
June 3, 2025 at 7:18 AM
A small selection of medieval tiles found last year at #CerneAbbey 🏺
Perfect entertainment for any jigsaw enthusiasts out there!
#TilesOnTuesday
Perfect entertainment for any jigsaw enthusiasts out there!
#TilesOnTuesday
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)
May 22, 2025 at 4:56 PM
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)
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)
May 22, 2025 at 4:56 PM
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)
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)
May 22, 2025 at 4:56 PM
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)
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)
Perhaps that's what makes the site so intriguing! (5/5)
May 22, 2025 at 7:30 AM
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)
Perhaps that's what makes the site so intriguing! (5/5)
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)
May 22, 2025 at 7:30 AM
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)
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)
May 22, 2025 at 7:30 AM
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)
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)
May 22, 2025 at 7:30 AM
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)
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)
May 22, 2025 at 7:30 AM
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)
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
#TilesOnTuesday
May 20, 2025 at 8:23 AM
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
#TilesOnTuesday
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 ?
It's experienced a lot of wear since I last saw it, and now looks even more medieval!
A perfect offering for #TilesOnTuesday ?
March 4, 2025 at 8:43 AM
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 ?
It's experienced a lot of wear since I last saw it, and now looks even more medieval!
A perfect offering for #TilesOnTuesday ?
Really chuffed that our publication of the gorgeous Scremby Cup has been selected as cambridgeuparchaeo.bsky.social paper of the month ☺️
With Roman enamelwork 🏺, an Anglo-Saxon burial ☠️ and of course lard 🐷, there's a bit of something for everyone!
And it's free to download for the next 30 days
With Roman enamelwork 🏺, an Anglo-Saxon burial ☠️ and of course lard 🐷, there's a bit of something for everyone!
And it's free to download for the next 30 days
January 22, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Really chuffed that our publication of the gorgeous Scremby Cup has been selected as cambridgeuparchaeo.bsky.social paper of the month ☺️
With Roman enamelwork 🏺, an Anglo-Saxon burial ☠️ and of course lard 🐷, there's a bit of something for everyone!
And it's free to download for the next 30 days
With Roman enamelwork 🏺, an Anglo-Saxon burial ☠️ and of course lard 🐷, there's a bit of something for everyone!
And it's free to download for the next 30 days
Two possible responses to the way 2025 is already unfolding. I'm not sure which approach to adopt in the coming days/weeks.
January 2, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Two possible responses to the way 2025 is already unfolding. I'm not sure which approach to adopt in the coming days/weeks.
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
December 24, 2024 at 5:48 PM
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
I'm not sure which is more pleasing, finding out my research is currently fronting the science page of Newsweek, or the fact the Scremby bowl shares top billing with a cat... 🏺 🐈⬛
www.newsweek.com/mystery-uniq...
www.newsweek.com/mystery-uniq...
December 14, 2024 at 3:00 PM
I'm not sure which is more pleasing, finding out my research is currently fronting the science page of Newsweek, or the fact the Scremby bowl shares top billing with a cat... 🏺 🐈⬛
www.newsweek.com/mystery-uniq...
www.newsweek.com/mystery-uniq...
There again he is looking particularly shiny today, so maybe there’s something in it.
December 7, 2024 at 5:35 PM
There again he is looking particularly shiny today, so maybe there’s something in it.
My Mrs is trying to persuade me that the cat has shed his summer coat with the changing season.
I remain unconvinced…
I remain unconvinced…
December 7, 2024 at 5:33 PM
My Mrs is trying to persuade me that the cat has shed his summer coat with the changing season.
I remain unconvinced…
I remain unconvinced…
This picture of me intently examining a rather unusual 'find' uncovered by @lawrence-shaw.bsky.social at #CerneAbbey this summer seems particularly appropriate for #FindsFriday 🏺 🐈⬛
November 29, 2024 at 2:46 PM
This picture of me intently examining a rather unusual 'find' uncovered by @lawrence-shaw.bsky.social at #CerneAbbey this summer seems particularly appropriate for #FindsFriday 🏺 🐈⬛
I'm very excited with these professional photographs for the report on the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Scremby, which I excavated shortly before the pandemic.
The clarity of the mineralised fabric surviving on the back of this cruciform brooch (c.AD 475-550) is astounding!
#FindsFriday #FabricFriday
The clarity of the mineralised fabric surviving on the back of this cruciform brooch (c.AD 475-550) is astounding!
#FindsFriday #FabricFriday
November 22, 2024 at 3:14 PM
I'm very excited with these professional photographs for the report on the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Scremby, which I excavated shortly before the pandemic.
The clarity of the mineralised fabric surviving on the back of this cruciform brooch (c.AD 475-550) is astounding!
#FindsFriday #FabricFriday
The clarity of the mineralised fabric surviving on the back of this cruciform brooch (c.AD 475-550) is astounding!
#FindsFriday #FabricFriday
On a cold and rather dull day, what could be better to cheer one up than this rather chipper fellow! One of my favourite floor tiles that we've excavated at #CerneAbbey! 🏺
#TilesOnTuesday
#TilesOnTuesday
November 19, 2024 at 8:59 PM
On a cold and rather dull day, what could be better to cheer one up than this rather chipper fellow! One of my favourite floor tiles that we've excavated at #CerneAbbey! 🏺
#TilesOnTuesday
#TilesOnTuesday