As in previous years, the current season of digging at Woking Palace culminated in invitations to the public to see what had been uncovered by the three weeks of excavations this year.

Over the weekend of 30/31 July some 400 visitors joined nearly 50 members of local heritage groups at this rural, riverside site, once the location of the medieval manor house of Woking which was in Tudor times transformed into a royal palace.

On collecting their ticket for the timed tour of the excavations, there was plenty for visitors to see among the stands set up by the various local heritage organisations. This included a model of the site as it might have appeared in the 1530s although it was explained that this will need to be further modified as a result of this year’s excavations!

Guides from The Friends of Woking Palace led each party of visitors from trench to trench explaining the current known history of the site, while at each trench archaeologists who had participated in the excavation explained what had been deduced from their work this year and how this is modifying the developing picture of the moated site.

Amongst the visitors was the Mayor of Woking, Ken Howard, who was accompanied by his wife. The Mayor, who had been involved with the Friends at its inception, expressed himself delighted at the improvements the Friends had carried out to the site and particularly to its presentation. He was fascinated by the discoveries made by the archaeologists in recent years and the way these have combined with historical research to expand the understanding of the early history of the site.

As always, much work will now have to be carried out to understand the findings of the excavation. This will be done by Rob Poulton’s team together with volunteers and the universities involved in the Woking Palace Archaeological Project.

There will be a lecture by Rob Poulton at 3pm on 19th November at the Surrey History Centre when members of the public will have a chance to hear more about the developing interpretation of this special site. For details please see the Surrey History Centre website.