Archaeological Project 2009:
Second week of the excavations.
Enigma
The section across the very large bank close to the fishponds at the west end of the Copse was completed (left) but yielded
virtually no dating evidence and its purpose remains an enigma.
Foundations Found
The foundation walls of the porch of the Great Hall were
cleared and the later robbing out of the east wall was explored. This led to the discovery of a major range of buildings
which in Tudor times would have run along the south side of the Great Court. Re-used stonework at the bottom of this
foundation trench could only have come from earlier masonry buildings.
Yet more walls, this time of flimsy construction,
started to show up at lower levels. The earliest of these fragments may date as far back as the 13th century.
Investigating the middle moat
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Having established the width of the middle arm of the moat in the first week, further excavation showed that in
1580/81 it had been infilled with layers of clay and rubble from demolished buildings. One of the geo-archaeological
boreholes drilled by QUEST showed that these deposits lay on top of about two metres of earlier silts in the moat; samples
of these silts have been taken by QUEST for analysis. |
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New trenches
Two new trenches were opened, one to the south east of the vault building and one to the south west. The first (above) revealed
late medieval or Tudor glazed floor tiles and while the other showed no distinct features it contained large amounts of
kitchen waste. Both will be examined further in the third week.
"Dig for a Day"
Abby Guinness continued to lead those joining the ‘dig for a day’ programme, whiles Giles Pattison was kept busy
recording all the new features.
End of Second Week: Director's Tour
And at the end of the week, Rob Poulton gave his traditional ‘Director’s tour’ for those on site.
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