From Bronze Age to Alfred

A highly informative and entertaining talk by Dr Richard Brunning of Somerset County Council Heritage Service, with the above title, attracted around 80 people to Aller Village Hall on Tuesday evening.
Dr Brunning explained the story he and his colleagues, including several local volunteers, had uncovered (quite literally!) in their excavations in 2012 on Aller 'Island', centred around our Parish Church.

Dr Richard Brunning presents his findings to a packed village hall.

Evidence of Bronze age settlements, including Barrows, dating back to 2000BC, at a time when this small island was surrounded by a swamp and saltmarsh, was found in the excavations and the survey work that preceded it. 

A few of the artefacts uncovered were on display.

Although we are no nearer knowing why Alfred chose Aller as the baptism site for Guthrum, it is thought that it might have been the site of a significant hermitage, or could just be that Alfred had visited it frequently from nearby Athelney. It does however seem unlikely that the main village of Aller spread out from the island, as there is little evidence of any significant mediaeval settlement there.
We recorded the presentation and you can download the file (Aller Island.mp3 - 102.3Mb, so will take some time on our slow local internet connection!)  here. Unfortunately, we don't have the slides to go with it.