We've exposed more of the medieval ditch in Trench 8 by removing parts of the later stonework lying above. The ditch appears to have at least two fills, possibly indicating one or more recuts. The uppermost fill is particularly rich in deer antler, perhaps indicating consumption of deer on site. Over the remaining couple of days we'll be excavating a section through the ditch to its base, in order to confirm the sequence of filling and hopefully to recover dating evidence.
Also in Trench 8, we're excavating a section through the structures at the northern end. There are yard surfaces and insubstantial wall footings here, but these seem to be later than the substantial footings we believe belong to the 1604 hall. The location of the original north wall is still a mystery - will we find a wall trench below the later structures?
In Trench 11 we removed the upper layers of stone from the mysterious structure cutting the southern edge of the medieval ditch, and confirmed the structure to be a drain, re-using very fine dressed stone probably originally used for window ledges and mullions. Perhaps these stones once formed part of the hall, and were re-used following its demolition. It's a very posh drain, with all the stones mortared in place!
In Trench 12 we're almost down to natural in parts of the trench. There appears to be the edge of a feature coming through - could this be the early ditch?
Some finds: |
