Days 10 and 11: Big Discoveries and Brand New Trenches...

At the end of last week, some big discoveries were made which have impacted upon the trajectory of the excavations as we move into our final week of excavation. Read on to find out more about our progress so far...

Firstly, some apologies for the lateness of these posts and their amalgamation. As ever, moving into the final week is always one of the busiest times in an excavation. True to form, this excavation is no different. On Friday last week, some amazing finds were made which we have only just begun to understand and explore fully this week.

On Friday morning (Day 10) some wood was found preserved within some waterlogged clay layers at the bottom of a pit in Trench 2. Throughout the excavation, this feature has been a challenge to understand. So far, the pit has consisted of mostly a rubble fill containing large quantities of pottery, animal bone, brick and shell. The discovery of well-preserved wood below this fill was a surprise and completely unexpected. The wood appears to consist of three different layers, with one larger beam, some smaller slats above and some vertical planks beneath. Currently, we are unsure what this wooden feature might be. Because of the delicate nature of the wood, it is being excavated very gently which is time consuming but necessary. We hope over the coming days, that this might make more sense.

On Friday, we opened an extra trench (Trench 3) on the banks of the bowling green close to Trench 2 and the kitchens that we believe we have discovered in them. Because of the nature of those deposits and position of those rooms, we have convincing reasons to believe that there would have been more kitchen, buttery and pantry spaces that lay undiscovered. A thin slot trench was inserted on the banks of the bowling green immediately east of St Peter's Chapel in an effort to identify the presence of any additional rooms which may have extended back there. Currently, it is too early to tell what has been found, but we are excited to know if the remains of an earlier kitchen or service space might be found within this new trench.

On Monday (Day 11), two new trenches were added south of the Wyatt Screen. Following the results of the Ground Penetrating Radar survey which was conducted earlier in Week 2, we believe that we may have a clearer idea of the scale and extent of the large two-roomed rectangular building which was discovered in Trench 1. Within Trench 1, we only have one long exterior wall with walls projecting out beneath the Wyatt Screen. Using the GPR results as a guide, we have inserted two trenches in what we think are the corners of the building in order to characterise this feature. At the moment, we lack any diagnostic stonework with which to date this building. Through these new excavations we hope to uncover some building features which may help us decide on a date an age for this building.

As the days progress and the excavation draws to a close, we hope to keep you all fully up to date with our progress. For on the spot discoveries, do make sure to follow us on social media!