John's Field current situation as of 20 Oct

[john@runway11]

The current situation is that we spoke to Suffolk county council again late afternoon, and the responce from them is that they are pushing to get the area in question excavated this week to confirm or deney we have a WW2 unexpolded bomb or a freezer full of junk.
As I have said before our hands are tied untill the area is declared safe.
I am not amused at their sence of urgency by any means and very perplexed as to why this has not been cleared up by now.
A word of warning never let archioligists on your land.
Lets hope they get it done by Friday.
And please until we get the all clear, do not enter the site whatsoever.

Many thanks
John T

[nigelblake]

Send them an invoice for lost income for the days you've been closed! Then they'll respond a bit quicker!!

[filmman]

John
Speaking as a metal detector it's I am very surprised at the long delay. When we dig up ordnance the police respond immediately, cordon of the area, shut down nearby roads (such as the A10) and call in army bomb disposal. If an active airfield was near I can't see how it would not be shut and nearby houses cleared.
We find a lot of metal in fields, ranging from bits of farm equipment - plough blades, harrowing blades, tractor weights, etc.,- aluminium drink cans which reflect a huge signal, fence posts, track plates. Not yet found a fridge but I would not be surprised. In more contaminated areas, waste tips or former buildings it's difficult to find anything other than rubbish. To our farmers delight we remove what we dig up, some of it can damage farm equipment.
Judging by the delay is the Council serious about a possible bomb? The airfield has been there since 1937 and been expanded, so you expect the RAF to have dealt with any bombs.
Archaeology is underfunded, most digs are funded by developers being required to check their site. Most important finds are made by ordinary people using metal detectors. Sounds like the Council can't fund more digging. Did the council use metal detectors, ground radar, etc to scan the field? Why did they want to excavate the field. Who owns the field. If you do and they find "Treasure" the finder can claim half the value unless the landowner has an agreement which gives him more than half. Best of luck.

Film man

[romeo bravo]

Judging by the delay is the Council serious about a possible bomb? The airfield has been there since 1937 and been expanded, so you expect the RAF to have dealt with any bombs.

Not always the case, actually far from it. Developments at several stations have thrown up some interesting finds!! Most of the problems relate to WW2 where 'home defence' left packets of arms/explosives around the station and perimeter in case we were invaded. Outcome was that people forgot where the left them, only finding them 50 years plus later when developments are instigated on/around stations

One station had EOD on permanent standby when hundreds of .303 rounds and hand grenades and phosphor bombs were found during excavations.