Day 12: New Trenches and More Questions...

Following the developments in days 10 and 11, Day 12 was all about trying to answer some of those questions which have arisen from the discovery of new finds. What is the wooden feature? How old is the big rectangular building from Trench 1? Are there other kitchens in Trench 3? Read on to find out how we are doing answering those...

One of the main priorities on site was all to do with trying to understand the wood discovered at the bottom of the pit in Trench 2. It has become clear that some of this wood extends beyond the limit of the pit that has been excavated. Therefore, this pit has been extended in order to hopefully find the edge of this wooden feature. Time will tell on how this progresses...

In Trenches 4 and 5 (those inserted south of the Wyatt Screen), some evidence of walls have been identified which broadly correspond to the results from the Ground Penetrating Radar. As discussed in earlier blog posts, a GPR survey was conducted in the lawned area south of the Wyatt Screen beside the driveway in order to identify the full shape and extent of the large rectangular building that we had excavated the side of in Trench 1. Currently, we lack any diagnostic finds or features with which to date this building. In these new trenches, we were hoping to characterise these walls and validate the results from the GPR survey as well as recovering any diagnostic finds or features which might enable us to date this building. Currently, we have not found any diagnostic features, but we have discovered some walls which broadly match to results from the GPR. In the coming days we are hopeful that these areas will progress.

East of Trench 2 and St Peter's Chapel, an additional trench (Trench 3) has been inserted on the banks of the Bowling Green in order to test the theory that there might have been additional kitchen and/or service spaces that extended from the back of the Great Hall (now St Peter's Chapel). So far, some burnt deposits and areas of rubble stonework have been found. At the base of this trench, some large stones have recently been discovered. These might be the early signs of a wall which might relate to early rooms. Tomorrow we plan to focus on these areas to answer some of these questions.

In addition, some small finds were discovered by our resident metal detectorist. Of particular note was a very well preserved thimble, some lead filigree inlay which might have been attached to a piece of furniture, as well as a pretty glass counter. We believe that the thimble and lead inlay are probably medieval in date, but we are still unsure about the date of the glass counter. If anyone has any thoughts, be sure to leave us a comment below.

Do make sure to check back tomorrow for more information about our progress so far. For immediate updates throughout the day, do have a look at our social media feeds!