Hugh Willmott

Hugh Willmott

@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Medieval archaeologist at @sheffielduni.bsky.social. Often found excavating monasteries and thinking about material culture; currently directing work at #CerneAbbey. Cats may make occasional appearances 🐈‍⬛ https://www.hugh-willmott.co.uk/

3K followers464 following106 posts

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

A little late for #FindsFriday but I’ve finally started working through this year’s artefacts from #CerneAbbey At 22mm it's tiny but this fragment of Anglo-Saxon window glass is not only unusual but also really important for our interpretation of the site Just goes to show, size isn’t important

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

While I sincerely doubt that Erkenwald rests in a garden at Soulton Hall, ‘Saint in a Shrubbery’ makes a refreshing change from the rather hackneyed ‘King in a Car Park’ trope that has been in vogue with the media in recent years. It also has a welcome touch of Monty Python about it…

Helen Gittos@helengittos.bsky.social

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.ukPatron saint of London's remains could lie under Tudor gardenCould a Shropshire Tudor mansion hide the remains of Bishop Erkenwald, the patron saint of London?
Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Strictly speaking, rather than revealing the foundations of the hunting lodge, most of the parch-marks actually show the location of archaeological trenches from the 1960s and 1970s (which admittedly chased walls). Just a reminder that our impact as archaeologists can be long lasting...

The Fake History Hunter@fakehistoryhunter.net

www.bbc.com/news/article...

bbc.comDry weather reveals Sheffield medieval hunting lodge remainsThe foundations of a 15th Century hunting lodge in Sheffield are revealed thanks to the hot summer.
Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

I’m probably being fanciful, but I recently spotted this unusual concrete gravestone in Ecclesfield, Sheffield, and thought it closely resembled a cutler’s grinding wheel. Does anyone know of other 20th-century gravestones whose design reflects the deceased’s profession? #TombTuesday

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Not sure if #MonasteryMonday is a Bluesky thing (it should be, if not), but here are some pictures from my visit last week to the Sufi lodge at Blagaj Tekke, near Mostar. Founded c. 1520, it has a stunning location and architecture, including the cutest little hammam at its heart.

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Despite all that happened subsequently, Vučko the wolf, mascot of the 1984 Winter Olympics, is still standing and welcoming you as you arrive at Sarajevo. True resilience.

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Great to finally visit Mostar again after so many years. The reconstructed Stari Most bridge is fantastically well done (you’d never know) and a perfect metaphor for post-war healing

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Visited the 11th-century Church of St Nicholas on Koločep. Although restored in parts, the interlace decoration around the door is a superb example of pre- Romanesque Dalmatian architecture.

Hugh Willmott reposted

Helen Gittos
@helengittos.bsky.social

Replying to @helengittos.bsky.social

A packed village hall last Monday to hear @hugh-willmott.co.uk talk about last year's work; tickets sold out within a day or so. The whole village has welcomed the excavations with such open-heartened hospitality - sharing their knowledge & questions, digging, pot-washing, stewarding visitors...

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

One of 2025's star finds at #CerneAbbey was this roof boss from the conduit house. An exact match for one at the conduit in Sherborne and almost certainly carved by the same mason. Sherborne's spent the next 487 years exposed to the elements; Cerne's was buried, preserving it in remarkable condition

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Just 10 days until we're back digging at #CerneAbbey I'm not sure if we'll have any intact medieval floors to clean again this year, but at least it was good life training for the lad last year...

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Spent the last few weeks searching out boundary crosses demarcating the massive medieval parish of Ecclesfield (approx. 28,550 hectares or 112 square miles). Here the lad is showing off the Birley Stone, the shaft is a more recent addition but the base is medieval & mentioned in a charter of AD 1161

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

And that time of year is fast approaching again @helengittos.bsky.social Roll on Cerne excavation Season 4 in July!

Helen Gittos@helengittos.bsky.social

As the @nationaltrust.org.uk Giant is in the news again, and as @timeteam.bsky.social have just been nominated for even more awards, here's a link to their feature length programme on @hugh-willmott.co.uk's excavations at Cerne - featuring Hugh, me & Walter the cat. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY68...

youtube.comCerne Abbas: Secrets Beneath The Giant | TIME TEAM (Dorset) 2025YouTube video by Time Team Official
Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Pleased to see my paper on the production and use of millefiori in Britain and Ireland (c. AD 580–850) published open access by @antiquaries.bsky.social A labour of love for a while now and definitely the most colourful illustrations I’ve ever produced, they were a bit of a nightmare to draw up...

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

On another damp, fog-bound day here in the Pennines, I thought I’d share a few of the lustrous fragments of Saxon glass that I've just submitted for publication. Deposited in the early 8th century AD, they still sparkle with joy 1,300 years later 🏺✨

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Finally had a chance to go through some of our finds from last year's excavation at #CerneAbbey & thought I would share this gem. Book clasps are quite common finds on monastic sites but this little fella is the finest I've ever excavated & must have come from a pretty fancy prayer book or psalter

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

It's been a pleasure collaborating with @helengittos.bsky.social on such an engaging and fun project!

Helen Gittos@helengittos.bsky.social

Now out! Cerne Abbas: Secrets Beneath the Giant. A @timeteam.bsky.social special on @hugh-willmott.bsky.social's excavations. It's been a joy to work with Hugh, at Cerne, to do some digging, and to get to know the people and the landscape of so special a place. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY68...

youtube.comNEW EPISODE! Cerne Abbas: Secrets Beneath The Giant | TIME TEAM (Dorset) 2025YouTube video by Time Team Official
Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

The big man of Cerne looking resplendent at dusk yesterday. Whilst he usually grabs all the attention, The Trendle earthwork that sits just above him was looking even more fantastic!

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

This time next week all this (and more) should be exposed again as excavations recommence at #CerneAbbey 🏺 We'll continue to work on the late medieval hall but also start investigating the intriguing earlier features that began to appear at the end of last season...

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Thinking about hill figures, another I’m really interested in is the Westbury White Horse. What you see today was permanently ‘preserved’ to prevent erosion by being covered in concrete in 1957. But what lurks beneath is rather more interesting… (1/4)

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Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Mr Gee is said to have overlaid and replaced a smaller horse, and a single surviving illustration from 1772 shows it was very different. Conventional wisdom is that this horse dates from the late 1600s, but I’m just not sure... (3/4)

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

There are clear caveats basing an interpretation on a single illustration, but this horse just doesn’t strike me as something cut in the 17th century; one can point to the legs, tail and emphasis placed on his manhood. Indeed did it even start life as a horse? We probably will never know 🤷‍♂️ (4/4)

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Thinking about hill figures, another I’m really interested in is the Westbury White Horse. What you see today was permanently ‘preserved’ to prevent erosion by being covered in concrete in 1957. But what lurks beneath is rather more interesting… (1/4)

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

The current design is said to have been cut by a Mr Gee in 1778 and a depiction from 1885 shows that it was largely similar to today’s horse, with subtle differences. The steepness of the hill meant that the horse degraded quickly and had to undergo repeated repair. But it wasn’t the first… (2/4)

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Talking again to @helengittos.bsky.social about hill figures, I'm reminded of a 🧵 I posted elsewhere about my favourite ones excavated by TC Lethbridge on Wandlebury Hill, Cambridge in 1954. His findings were dismissed by his contemporaries as a combination of natural & invented features (1/5)

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Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Furthermore, there are credible historical accounts of giant figures at Wandlebury, the earliest dating from 1605, and from this time on the spot was known locally as Gogmagog Hills, or variations thereof (4/5)

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Unfortunately the area is largely covered by trees today, meaning that for the foreseeable future it will hard to have another look to see what, if anything, was really there. Only Lethbridge knew what he actually saw, and he died in 1971. Perhaps that's what makes the site so intriguing! (5/5)

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Talking again to @helengittos.bsky.social about hill figures, I'm reminded of a 🧵 I posted elsewhere about my favourite ones excavated by TC Lethbridge on Wandlebury Hill, Cambridge in 1954. His findings were dismissed by his contemporaries as a combination of natural & invented features (1/5)

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Whilst I don't believe for a minute the full 'montage' he published, I can't help thinking that somewhere behind this is a kernel of reality. Lethbridge was certainly a very unorthodox character both professionally and personally; he was an advocate of dowsing and a believer in parapsychology (2/5)

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

But he was an experienced, albeit slap-dash, excavator and Keeper of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities at the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. So not the von Däniken type figure he is sometimes made out to be today (3/5)

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

With summer just around the corner, I thought I'd share one of my favourite tiles excavated at #CerneAbbey last year. Perhaps we'll find the other half in a few weeks time? #TilesOnTuesday

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Wow, what better way to end a stressful week than to see one’s collaborative research featured on the cover of @appliedspec.bsky.social! All credit to @sheonashankland.bsky.social for leading this impactful project 🏺🦴

Dr Sheona Shankland@sheonashankland.bsky.social

Very pleased that my paper with @drjemmakerns.bsky.social @hugh-willmott.bsky.social & Adam Taylor on changes in #bone chemistry with #ageing made the March cover of Applied Spectroscopy! 🌈 😁 @sasspectroscopy.bsky.social @appliedspec.bsky.social @lancasteruni.bsky.social @uofglasgow.bsky.social

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Last week I had the opportunity to revisit my favourite pub carpet for the first time in several years. It's experienced a lot of wear since I last saw it, and now looks even more medieval! A perfect offering for #TilesOnTuesday ?

Hugh Willmott
@hugh-willmott.co.uk

Really chuffed that our publication of the gorgeous Scremby Cup has been selected as cambridgeuparchaeo.bsky.social paper of the month ☺️ With Roman enamelwork 🏺, an Anglo-Saxon burial ☠️ and of course lard 🐷, there's a bit of something for everyone! And it's free to download for the next 30 days

Cambridge University Press - Archaeology@cambup-archaeology.cambridge.org

The Paper of the Month from European Journal of Archaeology is 'From Roman Table to Anglo-Saxon Grave: An Archaeological Biography of the Scremby Cup' by Hugh Willmott, Lenore Thompson, et al., free to access until February 21st! 📚 cup.org/4jncdvB #PaperOfTheMonth @archaeologyeaa.bsky.social