Monday and Tuesday 14th, 15th August - Days 1 and 2 |
This year we’ve used a mechanical digger to open the trenches up. This means we can open a larger area and get straight down to the archaeology without too many bad backs! At the moment there are four trenches (we’ve numbered them starting from 8 to avoid confusion with last year): Trench 8: Here we’re looking at stone structures probably belonging to the east end of the 1604 hall. There’s also a medieval ditch running through this area, dating around the year 1200. Trench 9: There’s a complex of cobbled roadways in this area. Are we looking at the original entranceway to the hall? Trenches 10 and 11: In this area we’re searching for the southern wall of the 1604 hall, and also the early V-shaped ditch encountered last year and dating to the eleventh century. Machine excavation leaves things a bit messy, so our job so far has been to clean up the trenches and see what archaeology is there. We’re focusing initially on Trench 8. |
Trench 8: a substantial wall is running away from the camera towards Eileen at the back. The wall trench has been partially robbed out but the cut is still visible |
Trench 8: the medieval ditch is visible in the bottom of the trench, as a dark stripe contrasting with the bright yellow natural. A stone drain can be seen in the trench section – this is probably associated with the 1604 hall. |
Stone structures in Trench 8 – the foundations of a long-demolished building. Is this the long lost hall, or a connected outbuilding? |
Pottery from the medieval ditch in Trench 8, dating 1100 – 1300. |
Finds from cleaning on Day 2, with my trowel for scale! Left – a clay marble; centre – a lead musket ball; right – a black glass bead. |
More foundations being cleaned in Trench 8 |
The Eileens are cleaning the line of a major wall trench. A drain is running through the line of the wall trench. Was this part of the hall’s drainage system, or does it belong to a later phase? |
Trench 9: cobbled surfaces – these still need a bit of a clean! |
 |
Pottery from Day 2: Coal Measures Purple Ware (1400 – 1600) |
Pottery from cleaning on Day 1: Manganese mottled ware (left) and Rhenish stoneware (right), both dating 1650 – 1750 |
|
Picture 015:  The bulb of a clay pipe (left) and a lead weight, possibly from textile manufacture (right) |
Welcome to Staveley Hall
