Secrets of a West Sussex village uncovered as unknown chapter in its history is revealed

A team from Worthing Museum has returned to Burpham with volunteers from Worthing Archaeological Society, following last summer's successful Big Dig.

Burpham Camp is a scheduled monument, an Iron Age promontory fort that became a Saxon burh and gave the settlement its name. The Anglo-Saxons used the natural defensive qualities of the land to build a fortification with ramparts and ditches.

Last August, a Saxon defensive ditch was uncovered for the first time, during the two-week Burpham Big Dig. Now, the team has discovered a much larger, and later, ditch – possibly associated with The Anarchy of King Stephen's reign.

Project leader James Sainsbury, Worthing Museum's archaeology curator, said: "This is archaeology in action – a whole chapter in the fort's history that was unknown until now."

The excavation in August gave a glimpse of this nationally-important feature and the intention of the follow-up dig this spring was to reveal its full profile, working over two weekends on private land. The hope was to find dating evidence to throw light on the nature of the defences of the Alfredian fort.

James said: "We've had a fantastic time with Worthing Archaeological Society, with some great finds and superb archaeology. It seems likely that rather than just finding the ditch of the Saxon burh (fort) we've actually uncovered a much larger, and later ditch – possibly associated with The Anarchy of King Stephen's reign.

"More work will be done by the brilliant Worthing Archaeological Society finds team, processing artefacts and drawing the features that were uncovered in the coming weeks. Finds from this excavation will be on show at the Burpham Big Dig exhibition at the museum next year."

Work started in Forge Field on April 25, where huge progress was made in the attempt to locate the full profile of the nationally-important defensive ditch. Two trenches were opened, with a view to seeing the ditch in two parallel trenches. Finds of note included a pipe clay wig curler and a pipkin ceramic from the 1500s.

The team was hoping to find the internal and external slope of the ditch and on day two, revealed the beginnings of the chalk slope relating to the inner ditch. It looked like it potentially dropped off almost vertically. Finds included a beautiful fragment of worked bone, possibly Medieval, and a worn coin or token.

On day three, a fragment of Bronze Age palstave axe was found in the spoil heap from one of the trenches. This dated to roughly 1250 BC but James said it almost certainly ended up in the top of the ditch in relatively more modern times.

As the dig continued, the finds were coming thick and fast, including larger pieces of Medieval pottery from the 13th century and hundreds of sherds from the 14th century, some still with a beautiful green glaze.

Metal finds included a zoomorphic copper-alloy dress mount, probably 15th century, a thimble dating to around 1350 AD and a buckle from the same period.

On May 3, day six of the dig, the team finally revealed the profile of the defensive ditch at Burpham across both trenches. Its irregular form suggested the ditch was excavated without 'military precision' but nevertheless, there was no doubt it enhanced the impressive rampart behind it and presented a serious obstacle to any erstwhile attacker.