Roman Dymock:

The Berkeley castle muniments reflect the history of the Berkeley family since it first acquired the castle and honour in 1154. From its own inception the Society has had a major role in making the muniments available for study by publishing documents kept at the castle and recently printing a catalogue of those of a date prior to 1492. In his presidential address the castle archivist chronicles what has so far been discovered about the accumulation, preservation and management of the archive from earliest times to the present day. Reasons are offered for some of the losses of documents in earlier periods. Suggestions are made about how and why some of the most puzzling items, including the earliest charters, were written and how others arrived at the castle. Some of the more important manuscripts are discussed. The effects of attempts to produce catalogues during the 19th century are charted. The nature and location of previous places of storage, known as 'evidence houses', are briefly mentioned.

Excavations in advance of construction in 1998 discovered enclosure ditches, pits and roundhouses of a Middle to Late Iron Age settlement together with a handful of ditches and pits representing the peripheries of a Romano-British settlement and a number of features dated to the Saxon period in the northwest of the site. Excavations carried out prior to further development in 2004 provided evidence in the southern part of the site of a local landscape dominated by at least two river channels which had mainly silted up by the end of the Saxon period. Saxon pottery found in the channels has potential local and regional significance and provides evidence for an undiscovered Saxon settlement in the vicinity of the site. The presence of remnant topsoil suggests that the final tertiary silting of the channels may have extended into the medieval period. No archaeological features of medieval date were discovered but the foundations of a post-medieval building together with a probable associated ditch and pit were recorded. Separately authored contributions include

excavations at Dymock Sewage Treatment Works uncovered a later-first-century rectilinear ditched enclosure containing rectangular timber buildings which were removed and backfilled in the early-second century. The site was occupied by a community whose diet, mode of dress and funerary practices were typical of a rural Gloucestershire population of the period but the layout of the excavated enclosure and buildings was not typical and the occupants utilised unusually `Romanised' material culture and construction methods from c.AD 70. A number of interpretations of this evidence are explored. While convincing evidence for the presence of a military garrison was lacking, it is possible that the enclosure served an official function. The manufacture of copper alloy objects was indicated by a small assemblage of brooch and tool moulds, amongst which were a Chester type trumpet brooch and its mould, the first such example from Roman Britain. The site also produced considerable amounts of iron-smelting slag, although direct evidence for furnaces was lacking. The local manufacture of greyware in non-indigenous forms was also indicated. Activity on the site was much reduced from c.AD 150 onwards and apparently ceased during the third century. Five adult inhumations of mid-second-century date were situated outside the earlier enclosure, while a number of infant inhumations were cut into the backfill of the enclosure ditch. A single probably later Roman building with stone foundations was also recorded. Separately authored contributions include

during October 2002 excavation on land adjacent to the Rectory at Dymock uncovered evidence for occupation commencing during the late-first or early-second century AD with the establishment of linear boundaries across the site in the form of a fence-line and gully. A small number of rubbish pits associated with the boundaries indicated that occupation lay nearby. The linear features were superseded by a rectangular building, again with associated pits, a row of which were dug along the building's gable end. The absence of evidence for earlier occupation suggests that the settlement was founded de novo in the Roman period. While no evidence for a road was uncovered on the site, a substantial quantity of metal-working debris was recovered, suggesting that exploitation of the iron sources of the nearby Forest of Dean formed a significant part of the settlement's economy. The ceramic evidence indicated that occupation, as elsewhere in Dymock, did not extend long into the third century. Separately authored contributions include

Dymock is contrasted with recently excavated sites in the Severn vale and it is suggested that it can be interpreted as an outlying element of the early Roman Forest of Dean iron industry. Evidence for control of that industry by local élites rather than the Roman military is also discussed

The Bristol Museum and Art Gallery houses several thousand artefacts, mostly stone tools, collected originally by A J Selley. In his research the author describes the man and his manner of collecting and acquiring finds, and assesses his contribution to the understanding of the archaeology and history of the Bristol area.

Brief summaries of archaeological research, fieldwork and building recording undertaken during the year. Information is arranged mostly by civil parishes. For the cities of Bristol and Gloucester entries are arranged by street or area.