Everyone knows that what you need to be successful is a bit of luck and over the past 4 days we certainly have enjoyed a good run.
Look what I found! - One of the earliest clay pipes from around 1550 when tobacco was first imported. Last Thursday we welcomed more volunteer excavators than usual on site. Indeed so many that Simon commented to Richard, I don’t know where we will put everyone and 30 minutes later the problem was solved as Nigel arrived with his mini digger to scrape 4 new excavation areas. Two new areas called Trench Zero north and Trench Zero south to search for a missing building; a western extension to Trench 4 to search for the west building and a further new scrape to look for the water pump shown on the 1850 map.
All these additional areas were located as a result of the dead reckoning process we are using following the discovery of the 3 walls in Trench 4. This has enabled us to scale the 1850 OS map using a wonderful piece of work by Paul Harris, our Graphics Manager to accurately overlay the 1892 OS Map over the 1850 map.
All these additional areas were located as a result of the dead reckoning process we are using following the discovery of the 3 walls in Trench 4. This has enabled us to scale the 1850 OS map using a wonderful piece of work by Paul Harris, our Graphics Manager to accurately overlay the 1892 OS Map over the 1850 map.
Behind Naomi and Simon is the trench where we found the two post holes. Following Nigel’s arrival, which was a bit like John Wayne and the 7th US Cavalry, everyone was gainfully employed and the finds trays and wheel barrows were suddenly being filled again and the spoil heaps were growing.
By Friday, the Trench 4 extension was starting to reveal masonry, and on Saturday lady luck again appeared as we found 2 post holes in the smallest of Nigel’s scrapes – Trench Zero South. This was the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack and proved we had the broad location of the missing north building.
On Saturday, despite a poor forecast we had a day of good weather; a visitor who had been on site for only 15 minutes was watching an excavator and suddenly spotted a tiny white object in the trench which was later identified as a very small and early type of clay smoking pipe – dating from the early days of tobacco around 1550. Simon also found a very sharp flint shaving which if caught with his finger instead of a trowel could have resulted in several stiches to patch up what would have inevitably been a nasty cut. By evening the Trench 4 extension was now showing several walls and some interesting and still to be interpreted masonry.
By Friday, the Trench 4 extension was starting to reveal masonry, and on Saturday lady luck again appeared as we found 2 post holes in the smallest of Nigel’s scrapes – Trench Zero South. This was the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack and proved we had the broad location of the missing north building.
On Saturday, despite a poor forecast we had a day of good weather; a visitor who had been on site for only 15 minutes was watching an excavator and suddenly spotted a tiny white object in the trench which was later identified as a very small and early type of clay smoking pipe – dating from the early days of tobacco around 1550. Simon also found a very sharp flint shaving which if caught with his finger instead of a trowel could have resulted in several stiches to patch up what would have inevitably been a nasty cut. By evening the Trench 4 extension was now showing several walls and some interesting and still to be interpreted masonry.
| Sunday morning brought dire weather warnings and as lunchtime approached two things happened one it started raining slowly at first and then more heavily. Then secondly a visitor from Saturday appeared with a very big picnic for the volunteers as a thank you for being shown around the site at short notice and for working so hard. Needless to say two things happened – It continued to pour down with rain but we were dry under the marquee enjoying the Picnic! Thank you Catherine. |  Richard is demonstrating the delicate touch of spreading jam and cream on a scone – a technique finely tuned by wielding a mattock and trowel over the past 24 days – please note the improvised plate! |
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