Corfe Castle Archaeological Weekend - 10th and 11th September 2005
Bill appeared again at Corfe Castle, a National Trust property in Purbeck, during their weekend celebrating history.
To find out more about Corfe Castle follow this link.
Bill fired a stock of Beakers and Urns made during previous workshops and demonstrations, using a bonfire similar to the type he used at the Festival of History.
Here are some images of the Sunday's activties (It rained on the Saturday so not much happened!)
The bonfire was set up similarly to the Festival of History fires. Here it has been stoked up with logs to get a good blaze going.
Bill takes a tea break - waiting for the fire to burn down. Beakers and urns were displayed and sold from his yurt.
The bonfire is almost over, but the Swanage Railway train is getting up steam.
The majestic ruins of Corfe Castle loom above the cooling fire. Notice the crowd barrier made from looped willow wands - not quite up to kite mark standard!
The fire is over and the pots have been pulled out to cool. They were moved while they were still hot, to try and get the carbon smuttiness to burn away from where it remained when buried in the ashes.
The fire was well controlled, only one pot blew its base early on in the firing, when the flames got too close and water in the clay turned to steam and expanded. A couple more blew later on and there were a few cracks, mainly from being positioned in the middle of the stack and not being warmed up enough before the main fire was built up.
Two thirds of the pots came out intact, one third had faults.
Interestingly a couple of the pots made on the previous day were successfully fired, starting while still damp. They were carefully turned over and round during the pre-heating.