St Osmund's School Dig

In 2008 Wessex Archaeology helped Year 4 pupils from St Osmund’s Primary School to excavate a small trench on their playing field.

The school is just outside the walls of Salisbury Cathedral Close, close to the heart of the medieval town. In the Victorian period the school was a convent and home to a group of nuns who looked after poor and abandoned children.

Year 4 pupils from St Osmund’s Primary School excavating a small trench on their playing field

The children dug enthusiastically, despite appalling weather. Their earliest finds were bits of medieval brick and tile and a piece of a medieval pottery.

Sherds of medieval brick and tile and a piece of a medieval pottery

The Victorian finds like slate pencils, marbles and a thimble, were particularly interesting to the young excavators because they were once used by children like themselves. 

The metal U shape is from the heel of a child’s boot. The other metal object is a button hook.

Two Victorian marbles were found during the excavation. One is made of blue glass and the other once sealed the neck of a fizzy drink bottle. Children would smash the empty bottles to get the ‘marble’ out.

Victorian blue glass "marble".

The children found modern items like pieces of electrical wiring and bits of a credit card. The one they liked best was a small china hippopotamus!

Wade hippopotamus

After the excavation the children researched their objects and presented their findings to the rest of the class . Their discoveries will be a valuable, lasting resource for future pupils learning about their local history.