Day 13: 2 days left!

As we enter the latter half of our last week our minds have all become focused on trying to finish and understand some of our more complicated features so that we can a full a accurate understanding of the development and relationships between the different features we have in our trenches . Read below to find out more about our progress so far...

At the beginning of today the decision was made to open up an additional trench south of the Wyatt Screen to target areas of probable below-ground building remains beyond the limits of the large rectangular building excavated in the south part of Trench 1 and identified through the GPR survey last week. We have strong reasons to believe that there might have been additional buildings built abutting or close to the large rectangular building, but our GPR building does not reveal these. Therefore, we have inserted an additional small slot trench to see what archaeology might be present. Within only a few hours, this trench unveiled a possible doorway and wall with a masons mark on it. The soil fill of this trench is very rich in charcoal and burnt deposits with lots of animal bones within it. Tomorrow, this fill is planned to be sampled for environmental analysis.

Trenches 4 and 5 which were opened up earlier this week have similarly progressed. In Trench 4 we have located a substantial wall that meets our expectations from the GPR survey. In Trench 5, the wall remains are less clear. We are excavating further to see if we can better characterise this feature.

In Trench 1 focus has shifted to trying to finish off and understand the ditches and buttresses, and their relationship to other features. Our current working theory remains that the series of buttresses are very possibly the buttresses that would have supported Bek's chapel. This is based off the size of the buttresses and their similarity in shape, size and arrangement to other royal and ecclesiastical chapels from this period. Furthermore, the location of this area immediately south of parts of the building thought to have been built by Bek in the West Wing provide some locational context. In the last few days, we have been allowed access beyond the limits of the earlier trench to try and see if we can locate any further walls or internal parts of chapel close to our most westerly buttress. So far, this area is appearing to be rubble filled and unclear, but we are hoping that with more cleaning tomorrow, this might begin to reveal more defined features.

Our ditches have continued to grow. Currently, in our largest trench the ditch appears to be around 5m wide, and possibly clay lined. The rain overnight left unwelcome puddles in the base of the trench which has made it a challenge to excavate. We believe that we have now come to the bottom of these features, or close to it. Given the size and extent of these features, we believe that what we might be looking at would have been a sizeable defensive ditch or moat, possibly encircling the chapel.

In Trench 2, the kitchen and cobbled areas have been drawing to a close with students drawing and recording the features in them. In the large pit with wood at the base, more small finds have resulted in some interesting theories. Today, the bowl of a clay pipe together with a musket ball and some medieval window tracery were all found within that trench. The sides of the trench have also been widened so as to more effectively excavate out the wooden beams within. One theory currently circulating is that we might be looking at a hole dug during the medieval period with a wood-covered well in it. During the 17th century, this hole was filled with rubble and rubbish which has led to this strange arrangement and deposition of material we see today. This theory might change however, as we excavate out the wood further.

Even as we draw to the end of our excavations, we are still recovering a range of amazing finds. Be sure to check back regularly to find out more. Alternatively, be sure to have a look at our social media feeds.