Berkeley Castle Tales

Presents results of 15-year-long excavations and landscape research at Berkeley Castle. Combining archaeological results with information from the castle’s 20,000 historical documents, the project adds greatly to our understanding of the changes that accompanied the arrival of the Normans, with the erection of a castle on the former

Berkeley Castle Tales presents the outcomes of the 15-year-long University of Bristol excavations and landscape research at the Berkeley Castle estate in South Gloucestershire. The project, which in 2016 won the prestigious Current Archaeology award for the Archaeology Project of the Year, aimed at writing, through material culture and extensive archival and geophysical research, the narrative behind the construction of Berkeley Castle, the corresponding town, and the area of the Severn valley that overlooks the borders with Wales. By combining the results of archaeological fieldwork with information contained in the castle’s impressive collection of 20,000 historical documents, the project adds greatly to our knowledge and understanding of the early medieval period and the subsequent changes in landscape and society that occurred with the coming of the Normans, with the erection of a castle on the former minster site. Throughout the publication the advances that the Berkeley Castle project offered to archaeological practice, to excavation and geophysics methodology, and to the community and public archaeology are evident, since the editors intend the volume to be a milestone not only for the study of a castle landscape but also for archaeological method and practice.

Foreword by Charles Berkeley Foreword by Professor Graeme Were Chapter 1: Tales from an Excavation: University of Bristol and the Berkeley Castle Project 2005-2019 - Stuart J. Prior Chapter 2: Tales from the Land: An Account of the Landscape and Geophysical Research of the Berkeley Castle Project - Konstantinos P. Trimmis, Gareth Dickinson, and Jennifer Muller Chapter 3: Tales from the Castle: A Biography of the Fortifications and the Castle in Berkeley - Rachel Morgan and Stuart J. Prior Chapter 4: Tales from the Ground: Stratigraphic Narratives from the University of Bristol Research at Berkeley - Stuart J. Prior Chapter 5: Tales from the Clay: Notes on the Pottery Fabrics from Berkeley, Gloucestershire - Paul Blinkhorn and Stuart J. Prior Chapter 6: Tales from the Objects: Small Finds from Berkeley Castle Project - Emma Firth Chapter 7: Tales from the animals: a preliminary account of the zooarchaeological assemblage from Berkeley Castle Project - Sarah Gosling Chapter 8: Tales from the People: Analysis of the Articulated Human Skeletal Remains from Berkeley Castle - Christianne L. Fernee Chapter 9: Berkeley Castle Tales: Narratives from Minster, Manor and Town - Stuart J. Prior and Konstantinos P. Trimmis The Photographic Tales from Berkeley,

Foreword by Charles Berkeley

Foreword by Professor Graeme Were

Chapter 1: Tales from an Excavation: University of Bristol and the Berkeley Castle Project 2005–2019 – Stuart J. Prior

Chapter 2: Tales from the Land: An Account of the Landscape and Geophysical Research of the Berkeley Castle Project – Konstantinos P. Trimmis, Gareth Dickinson, and Jennifer Muller

Chapter 3: Tales from the Castle: A Biography of the Fortifications and the Castle in Berkeley – Rachel Morgan and Stuart J. Prior

Chapter 4: Tales from the Ground: Stratigraphic Narratives from the University of Bristol Research at Berkeley – Stuart J. Prior

Chapter 5: Tales from the Clay: Notes on the Pottery Fabrics from Berkeley, Gloucestershire – Paul Blinkhorn and Stuart J. Prior

Chapter 6: Tales from the Objects: Small Finds from Berkeley Castle Project – Emma Firth

Chapter 7: Tales from the animals: a preliminary account of the zooarchaeological assemblage from Berkeley Castle Project – Sarah Gosling

Chapter 8: Tales from the People: Analysis of the Articulated Human Skeletal Remains from Berkeley Castle – Christianne L. Fernée

Chapter 9: Berkeley Castle Tales: Narratives from Minster, Manor and Town – Stuart J. Prior and Konstantinos P. Trimmis

The Photographic Tales from Berkeley

• Edited by Stuart J. Prior
• Edited by Mark Horton
• Edited by Konstantinos P. Trimmis

‘This summary of the Berkeley research spreads its scope widely, and reflects the aim of the project to bring together a number of approaches and disciplines, and to expose students to a range of techniques.’ – Christopher Dyer (2024): Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society

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