Day One: Turf, sweat and mud!

Today the team de-turfed trench 1 - a 12 x 8 metre area to the north of the priory and began to reveal the features beneath.

Before

As you can see we had nice weather today, thankfully not too hot! It seemed like an insurmountable task at 10 a.m. this morning but by midday the team had got into their stride and were forging ahead.

The team look forward to lunch!

As any archaeologist will know the act of de-turfing is both extremely boring and hard work while at the same time being one of the most exhilarating aspects of the dig. What was previously a well grown lawn is transformed into a variety of archaeological features and artefacts.

The ceremonial removal of the last turf by Rob and Sandy

A large sigh of relief as the last turf was lifted and the real work could start!

Sandy, Jude, Matt, Rob, Veronica, Claire, Dom and Andy "trowel back"

(From right to left)

Once the turf was removed we troweled back the topsoil revealing a number of features. Sandy and Jude rediscovered a wall we found during pre-excavation trial trenching, and Rob and Andy (despite his bad back!) unearthed a fireplace.

The goodies from trench 1

Although we were only dealing with the topsoil today, we found an significant amount of 16th & 17th century pottery and window glass, as well as some exciting Victorian China!

All in all a good first day!

Find of the Day: a fireplace (pictures to follow)