Wessex Archaeology 

The Contractor

Following discovery of the wreck in 2005 Wessex Archaeology, the current official Contractor was commissioned by English Heritage to undertake an Undesignated Site Assessment of the wreck in Norman’s Bay, East Sussex.  The work was undertaken as part of the contract for Archaeological Services in Relation to the Protection of Wrecks Act (1973).

Work was conducted in accordance with a brief that required Wessex Archaeology to: locate archaeological material, provide an accurate location, determine the extent of the seabed remains, identify and characterise the main elements of the site and assess the remains against the non-statutory criteria for designation.

Diving operations took place between 6th and 20th September 2005. In addition to the diver assessment a limited desk-based assessment was undertaken in order to assist with the interpretation of the wreck. 

Please click here to download their 2005 Undesignated Site Assessment in .PDF format.

Following the designation of the site by David Lammy (DCMS) Wessex Archaeology were contracted again in May 2006 to carry out the Designated Site Assessment.

Diving operations were undertaken between the 2nd and 6th of  May 2006.  A total of eleven dives were undertaken, achieving a total dive time of 664 minutes. Diving investigations were conducted in accordance with the brief supplied by English Heritage; this focussed on a measured survey of the cannons and recording of features which would aid in the identification of the wreck. A measured sketch plan of the cannons was produced, along with photographs of various archaeological features.

A copy of the 2006 Wessex Archaeology Designated Site Assessment can be downloaded in .PDF format by clicking here.

The Wessex Team returned to the site again in 2007

A copy of the 2007 Wessex Archaeology Archaeological Report can be downloaded from the English Heritage website in .PDF format by clicking here.

The Wessex Team returned to the site again in 2008

The following is a brief description (by Graham Scott - Wessex Team Leader) of the work carried out on the Norman’s Bay Wreck in 2008.

"English Heritage instructed Wessex Archaeology to work on the Holland V and Thomas Lawrence sites in the 2008 season. In order to maximise dive time, work was also scheduled for the Norman’s Bay site whenever the weather prevented us from working on the more exposed sites.

As it happened, the weather conditions were exceptionally poor whilst we were based out of Sovereign Harbour in September and we had very little opportunity to undertake work on any of the sites. However, we did manage to undertake a visual inspection of part of the central and south-eastern sections of the Norman’s Bay site. No gross changes were observed, although a fine layer of silt was seen to be covering the area of exposed timber that was sampled in 2007, suggesting that the sampling process has not reduced the stability of the site. The results of this very basic inspection suggest that the condition of the site is not greatly altered since we last inspected it in 2007, although it should be stressed that the inspection in 2008 was both limited in its scope and did not cover the entire site."

Graham Scott - Wessex Archaeology.

10 photos were taken by Wessex Archaeology on the site during the final dive of 2008 and can be viewed in the Photo Gallery.

Please click here to listen to the Wessex Archaeology podcast 11

Below is a gallery of photos taken by Paul Stratford when he accompanied Wessex Archaeology in September 2005, aboard their chartered survey vessel Explorer .

Please click on the thumbnails below to load enlarged image

Notes:

The Contractor is one of the heritage agency and ACHWS’s main sources of technical information about designated and non-designated sites. Its reports contain information about the current condition of sites, threats, standards of work on and off site, advice about publicity, conclusions and recommendations. The contract is administered by English Heritage and the Contractor’s main aims in respect of designated sites and licensees are:

• to ascertain the extent of work undertaken by licensees on designated sites;

• to discuss working methods with the licensees and associated diving team;

• to observe standards of work by the team and general compliance with specific licence conditions;

• to provide general advice and assistance, if required, and;

• to provide a report on each site visit to DCMS (and the Devolved Administrations where appropriate), which will assist in the proper discharge of their duties to the relevant Secretary of State and Ministers.

Wessex Archaeology was awarded the Diving Contract from April 2003. 

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