Our Archaeology
An archaeological dig where the Community Heritage Centre now stands confirmed what an outstandingly interesting area St Helen’s stands in. A tiny flint microlith tool, dating to between 5,000 – 10,000 BC, showed that hunter-gatherers once passed by here.
A vicarage building with large fireplace, external garderobe (toilet) and wide stone doorstep was also found. Post holes indicated the likely presence of a wooden tithe barn, and Medieval floor tiles confirmed the connection with Lilleshall Abbey near Telford.
The remains of a stone causeway, built in 1641 and leading to the medieval Grammar School, pass through our site. 16th and 17th Century pottery finds included an ale jug made in Germany.
Civil war ditches, which protected both the church and castle, pass beneath our new building. Royalist soldiers stationed in them left evidence of making their own lead musket balls and smoking clay pipes.
By the beginning of the 18th Century our site had become the bottom of the “new” vicarage garden, and was used as a rubbish dump, yielding the usual broken pottery of this period.
Many of our finds can be seen on display in the Community Heritage Centre.
