Bedfordshire Archaeological Journal Volume 09 1974

A tribute to Frederick William Kuhlicke on his retirement as Director of Bedford Museum, and a selected bibliography of his works.

Barrow No 3: originally constructed to hold prehistoric burials of unestablished date, the barrow was enlarged to a kidney-shape, in the horns of which a young man and joints of oxen were buried. In the fourth century AD eighteen burials hastily placed in shallow graves may represent a massacre. In the Middle Ages a gallows was established on the barrow and the remains of six victims were uncovered. A pit of unknown function contained a horse skull and dice. Barrow No 4: this harrow was probably constructed in the mid-1st century BC, and consisted of a burial pit covered by a simple ditchless clay mound. It was badly damaged by military activity during the Second World War, which practically destroyed the burial.

An examination of a shield from Kempston and its parallels indicates the range of material available for study in the decorative aspects of the Anglo-Saxon shield. The study notes that the boss may have a decorative top and rivet heads, that the shield board can be ornamented with appliques, some of which are zoomorphic, and that a metal rim may be present.

Despite settlement in the Ouse valley above and below the present town of Bedford from earliest times there is no evidence for urbanisation before the middle or late Saxon period. A river crossing may have determined the location of a settlement which was given a rectilinear plan by Edward the Elder in 9-15-6. The excavation of a section across the Kingsditch is reported. Bedford Castle (demolished c. 1224-5) dominated the town north of the river. The town does not appear to have developed significantly beyond the limits of the rectilinear plan until the eighteenth century. Major urban expansion took place in the nineteenth century and is traced through the study of a series of maps. Throughout its history, and especially in recent decades, the changing balance of urban functions between residential, commercial, office and transportation needs have determined the increasingly rapid evolution of the town's plan and fabric. Excavations since 1967 have produced some plan evidence for Saxon and medieval buildings, but, prior to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, standing survivals are almost all ecclesiastic. Many substantial timber framed buildings are known only from photographs and other illustrations. The main types of post-medieval buildings are indicated. A preliminary account of excavated medieval evidence for economic activity is given. The implications of recent development and the needs of a future research programme are discussed. Appendices list sites excavated 1967-1974 and pre 1841 buildings surviving today.

Rescue excavations in 1971 on four sites fronting medieval streets in the north-east part of Bedford showed no positive evidence of structures before the late medieval period, though Saxo-Norman pottery was found. At 43 Mill Street, three or more buildings had occupied the site from the fifteenth century. Footings for a post-medieval cottage were found in the south of the former Litson's Timber Yard, sealed in the nineteenth century by the dumping of earth from the adjacent Bunyan Meeting House basement. Notable finds from 43 Mill Street included 14th century floor tiles with line figures, a fifteenth century knight-on-horseback roof finial which is discussed in relation to other finds of this type, an early medieval lamp bowl, and a group of fifteenth century pottery containing both local and non-local wares.

A tribute to Frederick William Kuhlicke and his work on Bedford's heraldry