Woolverstone Hall School, 1958

‘My father, Robert F. Chapple, took these photographs in 1958 when he was at school.

‘The final photographs are some of the few surviving images of ‘Doc.’ Richardson’s archaeological excavations at the 1st century CE Roman Villa at Hadleigh, Suffolk. The excavation of this important site was never published and these images take on a special resonance and become not merely family mementoes of a long-ago summer, but valuable clues to our greater, shared past.

‘I am a professional archaeologist and I’m sure that seeing these photos as a child had some bearing on my choice of profession. I dedicated my most recent book (on the wildly popular topic of Middle Bronze Age enclosed cemeteries) to my Dad as ‘the first archaeologist in the family’. While he saw the rough proofs, he unfortunately passed away shortly before publication.’

- Robert M Chapple

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This capsule was curated by Robert M Chapple