Viva Brighton Issue #57 November 2017

INTERVIEW
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MYbrighton: John Funnell
Brighton & Hove Archaeological Society
Are you local? Yes, born and bred. In the early
days we lived up Elm Grove, then my family moved
to the new housing estate at Lower Bevendean in
about 1952. I lived there until I got married, then
we moved up to Seven Dials, down to Park Crescent,
then to Islingword Road before moving out to
Coldean in 1978.
What do you like about the place? It’s a diverse,
vibrant place. We had a gentleman from London
who joined our digs, as he did in all the towns from
Hastings to Torquay, and he always said that Brighton
is there all year. So many of the other places
shut down in the winter months but Brighton never
shuts down.
How did you get interested in archaeology?
Through a book at school, Six Great Archaeologists.
I read the book and that was it, I was hooked.
I didn’t do anything other than reading until
1985, when I joined a class called Introduction to
Archaeology, at Brighton College of Technology.
It was led by my mentor, David Rudling, and
after two terms he said ‘if you want to, you can
come digging’, so I went along to an excavation in
Worthing. I’ve been involved ever since.
What are the most important archaeological
sites around Brighton? Whitehawk Hill is
probably the earliest known settlement, dating back
to around 3500 BC. Excavations in the 1920s and
30s revealed a couple of female burials, a complete
burial of a roe deer, and decorated pottery.
The earliest pottery found in the country is from
Hembury in Devon, but the earliest decorated pottery
comes from Stone Age Brighton. Hollingbury
hill-fort is the second most important site, it dates
back to the Iron Age; about 700 BC. The major
digs in Brighton that I’ve been involved with are
in Stanmer Park and at Ovingdean. The Stanmer
dig was started in 1946 when two locals started
digging on a hunch and, in the first morning, found
a cemetery. In 1987 we cut a small trench in the
nearby field and found loads of archaeology. There
were seven burials, which are believed to be Saxon,
and nearby we found Roman items and evidence of
farming activity. At Ovingdean, in a field just north
of the church, there are lots of lumps and bumps.
In 2002 we dug some test pits and found a very
complicated picture with finds dating it from the
Saxon to medieval times.
What’s the most interesting thing you’ve dug
up? I’ve always been right next to the person…
I’m going to write a book ‘The things I would have
found if I’d been in the next pit’. We’ve found lovely
Roman brooches, coins, and a nice bronze piece
from a Roman horse harness. It’s amazing to think
that the last person to touch that lived two or three
thousand years ago.
What do you like to do at the weekend? I go
on digs on Saturdays. On Sundays I like pottering
in the garden and walking on the Downs, but I’m
always looking for things. My wife’s not particularly
interested in archaeology but, if we walk past a
ploughed field, even she’ll pick up flint flakes and
pieces of pottery. One of the worst things about
doing a walk with a group of archaeologists is, when
you come across a ploughed field, everything stops.
When did you last swim the sea? The last time
was around 15 years ago; I must confess that I
prefer the pool. When I was aged between ten and
fifteen, I practically lived on Dalton’s Beach, to the
east of the Palace Pier. It was wonderful.
Interview by Lizzie Lower
brightonarch.org.uk
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