Day 9: Walls, Floors and Doors

We are already halfway through the second week and things are gradually beginning to make sense (in some trenches at least). Even so, there is still plenty to keep our diggers occupied and we still have a long way to go before we can consider our task to be complete.

Trench N

The Trench N wall slowly emerges...

In Trench N, the east end of the hospital is slowly emerging from the surrounding rubble and is both extremely well built and massive. It transpires that what we formerly thought to be a possible undercroft is in fact the original walls, which have been largely robbed along their northern and southern length. As a result, the large humps within the trench are not walls, as previously thought, but are instead upcast, or large spoil heaps, formed by the individuals responsible for robbing the hospital stone. Pottery found within the robber trench appears to date this event to the 16^th century, shortly after Thornton was suppressed. Evidently the local inhabitants wasted no time in taking advantage of a valuable building resource on their doorstep!

The pile of rubble in the centre is a floor, honest!

Trench P

More floor tiles have been uncovered in Trench P and their distribution suggests that, as opposed to being discarded during the dismantlement of the building, they have instead been smashed in situ. However, they have been heavily disturbed, possibly indicating a large weight (such as the upper reaches of the hospital wall) landed on them. These have been carefully cleaned and photographed and will be lifted in the near future.

Towards the eastern edge of the trench, a large depression has been revealed as another robber trench, although it is slightly curious. Within the cut is a series of small tiles which are mortared firmly onto a long, narrow stone. Furthermore, to the north of this stone (and on the building’s exterior) is a rather fine cobble and crushed limestone surface which does not appear to extend to the west of the trench. Although we still need to investigate this feature further, it may be that the stone represents a former doorway, with the tiles used to level the doorstep in the same way as you might put a piece of card under a wonky table leg.

Trench R tiles

Trench R

For a trench with so little in it, Trench R is still proving to be fairly mysterious. The southwest and northeast corners were extended to find the outside edge of the robber cut, which was quickly located in the southeast. This was accompanied with a large spread of roof tiles which fell off the building’s roof after it had fallen into disrepair. However, in the northeast the robber cut appears to be far wider, and we are yet to find its edge. We will have one last attempt tomorrow to find it, but this may be one on-site enigma which remains unsolved.

Planning Trench S, with the "corridor" clearly visible

Trench S

Trench S is looking beautifully clean and tidy and is currently being planned. It appears to have had at least two phases, with the north-south running wall having been rebuilt at least once during the building’s lifetime. In addition, the robbed out portion of our original wall may have been in order to insert an internal doorway into the building, with bricks inserted in the place of stones that had been ripped out. The doorway also explains the area to the north of the wall, which consists of a broken layer of bricks which suddenly stop in line with the proposed door. The broken bricks could indicate a floor layer for an ancillary building to the hospital, such as a stable, with a corridor made of a different material, which has since been removed, leading from the doorway. Removal of the broken bricks will take place shortly any material found within it may provide a clue for the building’s former use. 

Trench T

Planning the undulating Trench T is challenging!

We continue to deliberate over the structure in Trench T. It is clearly vaulted and may be a bridge leading from the hospital precinct gateway towards the hospital itself, although Francesca (the trench supervisor) still remains convinced it’s a drain. However, removal of the rubble north of the structure has revealed a cut which we will soon start to excavate and this should hopefully start to answer some of our many questions about the trench.

Fingers crossed, the weather should continue to be fine for the next few days and by the weekend we may even be in a position where five trenches have been reduced to three. However, it is still relatively early in the excavation’s progress and there is still plenty of opportunity for further exciting and unexpected developments in all our trenches. 

Day 8: Mike and his marvellous machines

The star of today’s blog is Mike, who takes care of the majority of hi-tech equipment we use on site. Having finished his Masters last year, Mike has worked in commercial archaeology during the last 12 months and is planning to start a PhD in the future. He is always on hand to aid and assist with the plethora of devices we use on site to investigate, record and analyse the features and finds we uncover. These include:

Resistivity Survey

Resistivity Meter

This year we will complete a geophysical survey of the entire monastic precinct, the first time this has been achieved. In addition to being extremely good exercise, walking up and down a field all day with a moderately heavy machine helps inform our interpretation of the site and is also essential in making sure our trenches are located in the best possible locations. 

iPads (other tablets are available)

The excavation aims to be as paperless as possible, and as a result most of our recording, including writing context sheets, is completed on iPads. Although they may take some getting used to, the use of iPads enable records to be backed up easily, changes to be made quickly and the onset of rain does not result in context sheets being transformed into papier mâché.

Total Station and GPS

Every find uncovered during the course of the excavation is plotted in three dimensions using a Total Station or GPS. This will enable future researchers to investigate particular scatters of material and interrogate depositional practices in a particular area. They are also essential tools when drawing features, as they mean are plans and sections can be located precisely on the ground rather than floating around in unlocated space.

 

Recording finds using Total Station (right) and GPS (left)

Quadcopter

This is our newest piece of kit, and definitely the coolest. By attaching a camera to our radio-controlled drone we are able to get aerial photographs of our trench which would otherwise be impossible. We are currently also working on ways of manipulating the resultant material to analyse the interpret the remains and, judging by the youthful smile of our directors when they operate it, it is also quite fun to fly!

View of Trenches N and P, courtesy of the quadcopter

Work has progressed well today, with a number of interesting finds including a lead mount in the form of a flower. However, for further details you will have to read tomorrow’s blog! 

Day 7: Some things are not what they may first appear...

In archaeology, you have some days when the Fates appear to smile on you. Contexts are clearly defined, pot sherds await your every trowel stroke and every hypothesis you make about the remains before you is promptly proven. Then there are the other days, in which trenches lie frustratingly empty, finds are few and far between and your theories are consistently confined to the spoil heap. This has been one of those days. 

Trench N

Cleaning in Trench N to reveal more rubble

Trench N does not appear to have an undercroft. Two sections excavated over the large depressions at the western end of the trench have revealed yet more rubble. However, this is identical to the surrounding rubble and is also fairly compact, which is not what you might expect of a rubble-filled, void-riddled undercroft. As a result, we are currently revising our theories about the building within this trench, although in reality only further excavation will answer our questions fully. 

The Trench P floor

Trench P

The rubble in Trench P has been planned and is starting to be removed from the trench. This has revealed a broken tile floor in the southeastern part of the trench, but in the southwest has raised more questions than it answers. Walls which formerly appeared to be clearly defined appear to be more rubble than structural, and in places seem to disappear altogether. Although perplexing, now planning has been completed we should be able to resolve our difficulties quite quickly as the removal of building debris will hopefully reveal the structures beneath.

Trench R

Trench R is beautifully clean and utterly, utterly empty. Removal of the linear rubble revealed an equally linear robber cut which had presumably been excavated to purloin the stone and bricks from the building that once stood on the site. This was achieved so successfully that the few stones which were visible a few days ago were the only structural material remaining. However, in the eastern return of the robber cut were large fragments of medieval pottery, including the base of at least two Humberware jugs and a cistern complete with spigot hole. Despite this, the rest of the archaeology in the trench is apparently absent, with a single orange layer now visible across its entirety. Having planned this, we will now begin to remove the layer in spits to check that there is nothing of archaeological interest underneath.

Uncovering the wall in Trench S

Trench S

Trench S has received (yet another!) extension in order to reveal more of the wall running north-south within it; however, in contrast to initial impressions, it is composed of chalk rather than limestone and is thus similar to the first wall we found. Removal of the rubble in the western part of the trench has also revealed the foundation course of the wall running east-west, which demonstrates that, following its disuse, the building has been robbed thoroughly. As a result, there is little remaining of the original building and, therefore, it may be impossible to ascertain its former use.

It's nice, but is it a drain?

Trench T

To our great disappointment, Trench T may not contain a drain. Removal of a soil layer to the north of the collapsed structure revealed more soil, not the collapsed drain vaulting we hoped we might have. Despite this, there is still a vaulted structure within the trench, as evidenced by the collapsed masonry which is mortared together and has an arched appearance. It has been suggested that it may be a bridge, although its location makes this moderately unlikely. However, tomorrow we will start to investigate the rubble around the feature to try and understand this feature further and we should hopefully have some more answers soon.

At first glance, today’s post may appear to be slightly downbeat, but there is still cause for optimism. All our trenches have interesting archaeology in them, even if doubt has been cast on our hypotheses about them. As straightforward trenches can be quite boring, in many ways we should probably be celebrating their mysterious complexity! In any case, we still have plenty of time to fully understand the remains we have been presented with and it shouldn’t be too long before we come up with some more theories about the origins of the structures we are currently uncovering.

A beautifully clean and empty Trench R