Monk Bretton Community Archaeology Project

We're Famous!

2010-09-29T13:24:00.003+01:00

Here is that video we promised earlier, courtesy of "We Are Barnsley":

http://www.wearebarnsley.com/media/single/3348

That lass in the Ziggy Stardust T shirt looks like she is working super hard!

Day Twenty-Four: it's all over, for now...

2010-07-29T23:28:00.001+01:00

Today was the final day of digging, so in traditional fashion there was lots of last minute activity taking place all over site. Gareth's team finished cleaning up inside the building and demonstrated that there are all sorts of medieval features below. As these are not part of our research design we're leaving them intact, but we are recording their presence so that other people in the future will know about them.

The final push

The other main digging job taking place was the final clearance around the stone tank and drain features, which saw Andy, Pete, Alex and Gareth all diving in to expose the final portions of the drain. Otherwise, the main activities taking place were (lots of) drawing, photography and note taking.

It's not Tudor, but it's still lovely

Given we weren't digging many new contexts today we weren't expecting to come across any nice new finds. However Ian surprised us all by discovering the prettiest piece of medieval sculpture we've come across so far. It's a decorative 'crocket' from the church which was probably chipped off and thrown away when the stonework was being taken away and reused at the dissolution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocket

Towards the end of the day we started the long process of backfilling, and this will carry on for the next couple of days. Although rather boring and hard work, it's very important we return the site to the state we found it in.

Alex digs in

Gareth makes it look so easy

So after four long, but really interesting, weeks it has all come to an end. However, the work will still continue after we've left the site. Pete and Hugh still need to scrutinise all the plans, photographs and notes and piece together all the evidence we've uncovered. All the finds need to be studied and recorded and these will help provide an accurate picture of the site in the past. This will take some time, but eventually all our hard work will end up in a published report and all the records and finds be sent to the museum.

Goodbye everyone and thanks for following our progress!

Day Twenty-Three: Archaeology down the drain

2010-07-28T19:42:00.018+01:00

Today, much as yesterday was a day to finish up all those little jobs that needed doing before the mammoth task of recording begins! Success was found in trench two with the crack team of Alex and Andy finishing excavation and leaving only the west and east sections to be drawn on the morrow. Hugh began this recording today by drawing the elevation of three adjoining walls. This was done using the same technique as that employed in drawing the upstanding priory buildings.

Hugh attempts a world record length elevation

After completing their digging mission Rachel and Ian began to fill out context sheets, recording infomation about each layer, cut or structure discovered.

Two down...two hundred to go...

The fun jobs had also been left until the end of the dig, these included removing the caps to a drain and emptying the fill (this may not sound that much fun, but to archaeologists its pretty much as good as it gets!). All the deposits found within the drain were also sieved and kept as samples to be proccessed back in Sheffield.

Susannah digs out the drain...

...And Ann sieves it for goodies

While the team under the direction of Gareth cleaned out the drain Sandy 'volunteered' to produce the final plan for the centre of the trench

Its not even raining Sandy...why the jacket?

The day was coming to an end and we thought we had discovered all the features...but as always with archaeology another suprise was lurking under the soil. Kourosh, trowelling back like a pro began to uncover one stone, then another, then another. Not to keep you in suspense for too long...we found another drain! (Remeber how i said archaeologists love drains...well not so much on the second to last day of excavation!)

The team look down on yet another feature to interprate

The new drain!

Will the team manage to complete the work on time? Will Alex and Sandy be able to plan the trench before Friday? Will the Total Station run out of battery? The answers can only be found here...until next time dear reader...stay vigilant!

Hugh has a funny turn at the thought of all the work left to do
and tries to truely engage with the archaeology

Day Twenty-Two: Where there's a Willmott there's a way!

2010-07-28T11:21:00.006+01:00

Today, our eminent leader got down to the nitty gritty in Trench One to do some offset planning as the team pull together for the final push towards the end of the excavation.

We also revisited Trench Two today. Sandy, Robin, Jordan and T-Mac returned to the trench but as of yet haven't found anything wildly exciting since the robbed out linear feature found last week. Hopefully there will be more to report tomorrow, lest we discover that trench two is a "HOLE lot of nothing" (Ritchie, 2010).

Sandy surveying her keen workers.

Gareth's team concentrated on taking down the area in the centre of Trench One in an attempt to find another surface. Emma and Lesley were also kept busy working on a new slot in Trench One to try and decipher one of the more confusing walls in the Trench.

Team Gazbo hard at work.

Brendon and Andy just scraping the surface.

The find of the day came from Ann, the newest member of Gareth's team. As the day rolled on, it seemed a bit of a gamble as to whether or not we would find any desperately interesting artefacts. Then Ann found a wonderfully preserved Medieval playing die made from animal bone.Gambling with dice was very popular throughout England during the 1500's through all ranks in society, including Royalty and even the clergy. In fact, it is even believed that King Henry VIII lost the bells of St. Pauls Church on an unlucky throw. Pictures of the die to come!

Ann with her eyes peeled for more exciting finds in Trench One.

There was also a touch of media induced glamour in today's proceedings when visitors from "We are Barnsley" came to interview Boss Man Hugh about the excavation. "When and where can we watch this video?!" I hear you cry, well fret not, as soon as the video is available on the internet there will be a handy link for you right here on your favourite Blog.

Moving on, after Alex's absolutely admirable efforts towards drawing plans of Trench One over the last few days, he gives his eyes and nerves a well deserved rest and lets out some of that frustration with a mini mattock in Trench One.

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot!

That is it for now, check back for tomorrow as for more updates on the teams frantic efforts as the excavation comes to an end.

Find of the Day: Playing Die.

Day Twenty-One: thinking it through

2010-07-26T23:19:00.004+01:00

With most of the digging done in Trench 1, any visitor to the site today would have seen people often standing around chatting. Whilst it is true we're a very sociable bunch, this isn't just idle chit chat. With most of the walls, surfaces and other features now on view, the long process of figuring out what it all means is starting in earnest.

The empty bucket takes centre stage

Hugh, Suzanna, Sandy and Andy discuss the features

With the end in site it's pretty safe to say most people are looking forward to a well deserved rest, as it's been a really impressive effort by all.

Ian and Rachel enjoying a banana break! No jokes about monkeys and zoos.

There's still quite a lot we don't understand, particularly how some of the features relate to each other. This is quite common on excavations, and it's often only long after the dig is finished, plans have been finalised and the finds accurately dated that we can piece everything back together.

Emma figuring out what's happening to one of the walls

Not everyone has been standing around today. Despite the challenging conditions, Alex has completed the final overall plan of the walls, leaving just the first phase surfaces and the elevations to draw. To save his sight (and the remains of his sanity) these tasks will be shared by everyone.

X marks the spot

However, in best archaeological tradition, there's still quite a bit of digging still to be done through some of the surfaces, and we still have to look properly at the drain. Erm and there is still Trench 2 to finish off, so expect a flurry of last minute activity...

Brendan demonstrating his 'flick'

Day Twenty: going down the drain

2010-07-25T23:21:00.001+01:00

The start of the start of the final week has seen us getting to grips with the more sensitive archaeology. With all the demolition finally removed it's just 16th century walls and surfaces everywhere. These need careful cleaning, recording and excavating.

Back to work!

The greatest excitement of the day has been the discovery of an intact cobbled surface running along the south side of the trench. This is in (almost) as good condition as the day it was laid around 450 years ago, and careful trowelling had revealed this very nicely.

Andy, Charlie, Robin and Susanna revealing the 16th century surface

One feature in this surface that has really got people talking is an intact capped drain running down the length of the cobbled surface. We're not sure where it's running from and to, but it has never been disturbed so hopefully it might contain some interesting gooey deposit.

Only in archaeology can we get excited by a capped drain, but it's as near to 'Indiana Jones' as it gets for us

Gareth can't resist the urge to take a sneaky peak, terrible things may happen

Another exercise we've undertaken today is to extend a small slot from our trench to the wall of the church. This is so we can 'tie in' the features we've found with the upstanding masonry, and see if there were any connection between the two. This has been undertaken by Emma, who's thrown herself into the task with her usual enthusiasm and verve.

Emma demonstrating that the trowel is not the only way to clean a surface

It's exhausting work

Being a weekend we've had a good number of visitors as well as being joined for work by some old hands from previous weeks, Paul and Charlie. The next few days are shaping up to prove the most exciting yet, so make sure you check the blog daily; and we might remember to take the photos on time!

He's back, can anyone else hear duelling banjos?

Day Nineteen: Ooops

2010-07-24T23:16:00.000+01:00

With the excitement of getting back to work after a day off, we forgot to take any photos, so here are a few from past days that didn't quite make it onto the blog.

It all gets too much for Sandy

Freya's hat (to remind us of sunnier days)

Hmmmm.....

Day Eighteen: Rain....

2010-07-22T23:01:00.001+01:00

Well it was bound to happen at some point, but today saw the heavens open and the rain came. And came.

Alex tries to find the bottom of the trench

Everyone donned their finest raincoats and we tried to get some work done, but it was soon apparent we were being overwhelmed. Operations moved to the community tent where we did some pot washing, but after a chip lunch it was decided to call it a day.

Rachel battles on, not having heard the call to abandon ship

So beaten back we left site, determined to return with a vengeance on Saturday!

Day Seventeen: it just keeps on getting more complex

2010-07-21T23:23:00.003+01:00

With most of the heaby shifting of soil in Trench One completed, we've started the more careful excavation and recording of the various walls and surfaces. As well as photographing everything we have been producing stone-by-stone plans of what the features look like from a bird's eye perspective. This will soon be followed by the drawing of the wall elevations so we have a complete and permanent record of everything.

Alex in a planning frenzy

One new development today was that we decided to extend the trench just 1.5m towards the trees so that we could see more of the wall running along the western section of the trench.

Kourosh mucking in, but not realising that the shovel is supposed to have soil on it

This gave us a much better view of this wall but, as is so often the case in archaeology, made the picture all the more complex! The original wall did continue as expected, but then was joined to what seemed to be an earlier and even thicker wall running off to the north west. Hopefully this will all make some sense soon!

Ian stood at the join between the two new walls and wondering where it's all heading

It's really best not ask what Gareth's up to.

The artefacts continue to help us identify what's going on. We're still finding lots of 16th-century pottery and window glass, as well as more mundane items such as nails and animal bone. One interesting piece of information that came back 'hot from the lab' was that a rather corroded portion of green metal we found some days ago is probably a portion of tin-bronze mortar that might have been imported from Rammelsberg in Germany.

I think it's a pot Rachel...

As well as digging we've also been extending our survey work around the site. So far the main form of geophysical survey we've undertaken is resistivity survey, which is particularly good at identifying buried walls and solid structures. However, today Pete undertook some 'magnetometry' which looks at variations in the earth's magnetic field caused by the presence of structures such as hearths and other burnt features. Hopefully this will lead to some interesting results!

Not actually another one of Pete's fashion disasters, the comfy 'leisure trousers' and gumboots are worn to make him non magnetic to the fluxgate gradiometer, as well as everyone else

Whilst archaeologists, such as Pete, aren't normally renown for their smart dress it doesn't mean everyone on site is always a scruff-bag. Sometimes our visitors help lend a little colour, even if at times creates a slightly surreal feeling to the place.

We had no idea what was going on either...

Day Sixteen: surfaces everywhere

2010-07-20T23:55:00.001+01:00

With the hard slog of the day before (largely) over, all were rewarded by the appearance of 'surfaces' across the the trench. This is a term used by archaeologists to describe features such as floors or occupation layers, as opposed to the large dumps of demolition or collaspe material we've largely been removing to date. In layman's terms this is the fun stuff! In the centre of the trench further flat flag stones started to appear and these seem to be related to the fireplace structure we've all be admiring for ages.

The site looking largely rubble free! Spot the possible floor flags.

To the west of the fireplace removal of a demolition layer that contained lots of burnt material revealed a hard packed surface. Although this doesn't appear to have a flagged floor, we did get a glimpse of what might be an early phase of occupation, as there is another wall running at an odd angle to all the others underneath.

An earlier phase wall emerging?

Everyone seemed to really enjoy the new developments taking place in Trench One, or perhaps it was just Beryl's home cooked bacon sarnies that raised morale. Whatever it was, all were relived that the somewhat apocalyptic weather warnings that had been issued through out the day proved unfounded and we hardly experienced a drop of rain.

Phoebe is overjoyed at having travelled all the way from New Zealand just for this!

Millie just loves cleaning up that floor

All the finds we're getting now are now much more significant, as they relate directly to the occupation and use of the buildings, rather than having been dumped after the structures were abandoned. We've been finding lots more pottery and some interesting 'small finds', which are artefacts that we record the exact three dimensional location of using the total station. These include another nice copper pin, which mysteriously came two pins once it passed through Pete's hands and a very small piece of glass found by Ian. This got Hugh rather excited, who announced it was part of a portion of decorated Venetian drinking glass, despite the fact it looked distinctly 1970s in date to everyone else.

A tiny piece of rather groovy Venetian glass

Back in Trench 2 things were also hotting up. With the removal of a spread of stones a new feature crossing the trench was seen. This was running at a different angle to the large wall, and appears to be a narrow cut filled by large stones set on their edge. No one would really tell what this was, but once this is cleaned up it can be excavated properly.

Emma and Dane cleaning up the new linear feature

So all in all another successful day!

Day Fifteen: better late than never

2010-07-20T21:15:00.014+01:00

Well it was inevitably going to happen at some point, but with Hugh off site for just one day (teaching on the Manor Lodge material culture field school) all went to pot, including getting the blog posted! (Emma, you're sacked).

The 'Great' Dictator

With Pete firmly in the driving seat it looked like all was going well, a five year plan had been introduced and Alex sent back to Sheffield for 're-education'. The team of course pulled together in the new spirit of collectiveness.

I know nothing

I've seen nowt

Bolstered by their new found allegiances, newbies Millie and Gareth took the lead and almost single handedly removed the demolition layers from across the site.

Showing how it should be done

This clearly proved inspirational, and soon that soil was flying, and all were pitching in.

Digging for victory

However as all historians know, such reigns are usually short lived and by mid afternoon the news was received that Hugh would be back tomorrow!

Yeah back to normality soon!!

Day Fourteen: Yet More Demolition!

2010-07-18T19:07:00.011+01:00

Today everyone was overjoyed (?) as Pete returned to work after his long skive. After the optimistic post yesterday stating that the demolition layer wouldn't take very long to remove today saw the team battling away with rock hard clay and rubble. Persevering through the wind and rain the site has now been levelled and is ready for the careful removal of about 7 inches of demolition filling the centre of the trench.

Here Hugh is either mucking in or is sick of Emma taking pictures, you decide!

Once again a plan of the trench is required to ensure that all the archaeology is recorded before layers and fills are removed to reveal earlier contexts. Planning in this case is quite fun as we have lots of masonry structures to draw (however you might not guess this by the look on Veronicas face!)

Veronica settles down to some more planning

Kourosh straightens the trench edge and Ian admires his latest find

Although it would be possible to use heavy tools to remove this demolition layer the decision was made to proceed with caution, using trowels and hand mattocks (apart from Lesley who used her mattock as a trowel on a stick, and with great success!). After getting a feel for the layers today, tomorrow will see the arrival of the 'big guns' the large mattocks and shovels.

Is it a mattocking machine? No! Its Lesley!

Supergirl Holly digs for treasure!

Find were literally jumping out of the ground today with "pot-girl" Rachel being called upon to identify sherds left, right and centre. Although she usually did this with the disdainful snort of a true connoisseur she had what could be referred to as a 90% accuracy rate!

The community aspect of the dig also moved on a pace with the local kids diligently sieving the spoil from trench two and jumping into the trench to get some serious digging done!

Dane gets his trowel dirty while keeping a watchful eye on proceedings

Day Thirteen: Demolition Day

2010-07-17T11:55:00.007+01:00

After a day off, work started afresh and we were joined by a host of new faces. In Trench 1, with all the topsoil and 1950s disturbance removed, work started in earnest on the untouched contexts. In reality this meant that most people were involved in removing rubble and collapse that resulted from the final demolition of the building. Luckily this seems a relatively thin layer, so won't take too long.

The chain gang starts clearing

Ian poses somewhat unconvincingly, being 'an old hand' Veronica doesn't bother any more!

There was some work on other features. The newly revealed 'shaft' or tank features were cleaned up nicely for photographing and photos of these will follow tomorrow, hopefully along with a believable explanation of what they actually are! Sandy started the glamorous job of excavating the small drain feature first exposed a number of days ago. We're hoping she'll get some dating evidence in its fill that will help us date other related features.

Sandy seems to have forgotten her marigolds

Now we are digging through 'proper' contexts the finds have started coming thick and fast, and are even more interesting. The willow pattern china is now a distant memory and all artefacts are solidly 16th-17th century in date.

Kate, Shelley and Rachel sorting through the finds

Pottery is the most common find and we're getting some really nice chunks of drinking cups of two types, Cistercian ware (often decorated with yellow/white patterns) and its uglier cousin 'Midlands purple ware' which is, erm, purpley.

Lots of lovely Cistercian ware

Trench 2 is still with us, and soon we'll have a special feature on work taking place there. Today Dane has been supervising the digging and the relatively modern soils have flown off. They've also been making some nice finds too, all now 16th or 17th century in date.

Not to be outdone Dane shows off his find, enlarge to see the little petal

Day Twelve: A finds special

2010-07-15T23:12:00.004+01:00

Work continued on site for what was the last day of our second week at Monk Bretton. Drawing continued at the mill and excavation cracked on at the main site. In Trench One the main development was the investigation of two 'shaft' like features to the north of the fireplace range. These were the last features known to have been seen in the 1950s, but it was unclear what they might be. More will no doubt follow in future blogs.

The top of the two shaft features

Having reached the halfway point of the excavation, we thought we would take the opportunity to show the range of finds we've made, although these are just the tip of the iceberg. As with most archaeological sites, pottery is the most common artefact and we've found numerous sherds dating from the 12th to the 20th centuries. Given the context of the excavation the most interesting to us are the large numbers of 16th and 17th century wares, often associated with drinking. Below is a so called Cistercian ware cup or mug dating to the 16th century, which has a very distinctive decoration. We have also found lots of similar, but plainer 'blackware' cups (archaeologists aren't very original with their names at times), which date to the 17th century.

Cistercian ware cup

Glass was also a more common material for drinking vessels in the late medieval and Tudor periods than most people realise. Below are several fragments from a very well preserved drinking glass dating to the 15th or early 16th century. It is decorated with applied 'prunts' (blobs of glass) and was probably made in northern Germany.

Germanic prunted beaker

Not all finds are associated with drinking on the site, others tell us more about the overall appearance of the buildings. As well as sections of decorative stonewrok we've also been finding pieces of window leads. These were used to hold small shaped pieces of glass, known as quarries, together to form larger glazing schemes, just as can be seen in churches today.

Window leads

Occasionally we find things that connect us directly to the people who lived on the site. One such item was a very small 'mount' recovered by one of our sharp eyed diggers. Made from copper alloy it's now a dull green but when new would have been very shiny. Mounts like this were sewn onto items of clothing, and belts in particular, to give them added sparkle.

A tiny, tiny mount- early 'bling'

Perhaps our most interesting and unusual find (and yes it was found by 'lucky' Will...) was half of a rather ordinary vessel, mentioned in Wednesday's blog. This is the lower portion of a piece of distillation equipment. It has some form of internal copper deposit, perhaps to make coloured pigments? This type of find is very rare, although other examples have been found on both monastic sites such as Pontefract Priory and in domestic contexts like Sandal Castle. However, so far we reckon our 'residue' is pretty unique so can't wait to get a proper analysis of it.

A 'cucurbit' with internal deposit. "Purest green My Lord?"

So here is just a taster of the types of things we're uncovering, keep an eye out for another Finds Special next week

Day Eleven: Surprises in strange places

2010-07-14T20:17:00.006+01:00

Every day on our drive to site we've been passing the Mill of the Black Monk, once part of the monastic complex but now being converted into an Italian restaurant. We've always realised that built into the fabric is a lot of recycled Tudor masonry, almost certainly robbed from our mansion. Yesterday we finally met Mauro and Paulo who are responsible for this transformation, who very kindly have agreed we can have access to the building to record any interesting features.

Hunting the 'lost' Tudor mansion, enlarge to spot the details

After an initial visit by Pete and Hugh (including a fine espresso), the crack drawing team of Claire and Morgan went in and started to identify interesting features to draw. These include reused doorways, fireplaces and windows, and whilst they're clearly 'out of context' they do help provide a more detailed picture of what the mansion would have looked like.

Making a fine entrance

Back on site work carried on a pace too. We started excavating undisturbed Tudor and medieval deposits and this has produced an interesting range of finds. One of the most unusual was a nearly complete (if broken) ceramic 'cucurbit'- one half of a piece of distilling equipment. This contained an obvious copper deposit, so we're not quite sure what they were up to! This and other star artefacts will appear in a special finds round up on the blog in a couple of days.

Back on site

Kaya and Bryony 'on the rocks'

Our numbers were a little reduced today, so all who turned up were greeted with the unusual sight of both Alex and Pete mucking in, and shifting some of the largest pieces of out of place masonry.

Braced for action

Given the dire weather reports (which never materialised), Hugh decided to do his bit for the team and prepare a delicious and reviving soup for lunch, having found a left over box of soup from his previous excavation at West Halton several years ago. Surprisingly this didn't quite prove the hit he intended...

Dinner is served at Gulag Bretton

Work continued in Trench Two, and today we were helped out by several local school groups who assited with the trowelling and finds washing. The large wall is really beginning to show up nicely and finds of 16th or 17th century window glass are on the increase, so it looks like we've definitely found another part of the Tudor complex.

Something seems to be affecting Sandy,
lets hope it's not the lentil soup consumed earlier

So all in all another productive day that saw us finding even more evidence for the Tudor mansion both above and below ground.

Day Ten: Context is all

2010-07-13T21:43:00.011+01:00

The day began with some hardcore cleaning with everybody pitching in to get the trench troweled and brushed to photo quality. In addition Alex and Pete drew a quick plan of the removed contexts and used the Total Station to record relative levels.

How many structures can you spot? Answers on a postcard

Following the completion of excavation of the 1950s contexts the team began to dig through in situ Tudor deposits in the west end of the trench. The emphasis was on the careful separation of artefacts found in different contexts, allowing us to date layers and fills.

By far the most impressive discovery of the day was that Will had the unnerving ability to pull find after find out of any area he was placed in!

Alex, Pete and Will admire the multicoloured equipment

The female diggers get momentarily distracted!

There were many community volunteers visiting the site today and excavating in trench two, as well as enjoying a site tour provided by Christine (below)

Christine points out the features and the pink bucket

In the afternoon we had a visit from the Barnsley Chronicle, doing their bit to help promote archaeology in the area. The number of artefacts recovered also increased after lunch with pictures to follow in our bumper edition artefacts post!

Kaya shows off her latest find of animal bone

Of course the drawing team should not be left out of todays account doing some sterling work on the interior of the priory buildings. This drawing will hopefully soon be extended to the old mill near the site, which appears to contain masonry from the Tudor mansion.

Find(s) of the day: Medieval pot and token found by Will

Day Nine: 1950s fun

2010-07-12T23:35:00.000+01:00

Word of the day: wet

It drizzled most of the morning and into the afternoon. This made the site and all the diggers rather soggy. However, not deterred by such things work continued and we made great progress again.

Alex shares the joy, as ever

Today saw us remove pretty much the last of the disturbance from the 1950s on the site. It's now clear that the tops of some of the walls were located in last century by digging a narrow trench around their sides, a technique known as 'wall chasing'. This practice is now frowned upon by archaeologists as it has the effect of cutting off the walls from other contexts such as floors, making it harder to relate them to each other.

Hugh frowning on old fashioned practices, such keeping a site diary

Luckily most of the archaeology is undisturbed, but when digging we always remove the most recent deposits or 'contexts' first. This means we have to dig any 1950s backfill before the more fun archaeology, which we can do quite quickly as it has now been fully recorded.

Veronica whips out that backfill with her Mexican flick

One advantage the rain has is that it cleans up the stonework a treat. The fireplace feature is now looking really impressive as are the other 'kitchen' features associated with it. These include two stone 'tanks' to the north of the main hearth. Although we don't know what these are quite yet, one still contains an untouched dark deposit which will hopefully contain some clues as to their function.

Lovely features to the north of the fireplace

Braving the rain were a dedicated team of community volunteers. This enabled us to crack on with trench two. With the topsoil off a good 'spit' has been taken off the first archaeological deposit, although it's still early days here.

Trench two starting to shape up nicely

The community tent is proving quite a hit in this weather, and Christine is keeping everything (and everyone) firmly in order. It's also here that finds processing is taking place. So far we've not washed any finds, but this is now being undertaken by our community team so we'll soon be able to show you lovely pictures.

Christine multi-tasks, simultaneously cleaning up and checking the racing tips

Don't they scrub (up) well?

So despite a small amount of discomfort, by the close of day real progress had been made. Although it feels like topsoil and 1950s backfill removal has gone on for ages, this is now complete and from now it's just untouched and hopefully exciting archaeology to go!!

If like Emma you just can't wait to find out what happens next, do check the blog regularly!

Day Eight: A Tudor Kitchen?

2010-07-11T19:49:00.013+01:00

Today turned out to be a good one. The weather was fine and the team was productive with archaeological features aplenty! Along with some top notch excavating today, Veronica and Sandy finished their plan drawing of Trench One and Clare and Morgan finished their elevation survey of the south wall of the west range! Hurrah!

With a helping hand from our community volunteers, there was a lovely clean up in Trench 2.

Trench 2 in the process of having a clean up, a spot the digger competition.

"Not so new" Will, Freya and Emma were working around the fireplace area and uncovered some lovely little suprises. Some of the stonework in this section had small slots worked into them. It is possible that these slots were put there for beams to hold fittings such as sinks. This has led Hugh to ponder as to whether or not we have found ourselves a Tudor Kitchen! Furthermore, a corner to the fireplace was found today which implies that the structure could be far more substantial than we first anticipated. Exciting times! Check back for further developments!

Freya seems to be having a lovely time in the oven.

Outside of the kitchen area, there was a lot of focus today on placing sections across walls in Trench One. This involved placing and excavating separate "slots" within Trench One in an attempt to see how old these sections are. At the moment, we are mostly concerned with identifying areas that have been affected by superficial clearance on the site in the 1950s.

Veronica and Jude working hard in Trench One. The parallel pieces of string show where they are excavating a section.

Kaya and Matt starting another section of a wall in Trench One.

That is all for today keen archaeologists! Don't forget to pay a visit to The Friends of Monk Bretton Priory.

Find of the Day: Kitchen!

Quote of the Day: "This looks like it could be marginally, MARGINALLY sexy!" - Dr. Hugh Willmott on the fireplace.

Day Seven: The community kick off

2010-07-10T11:46:00.000+01:00

After a relaxing day off on Friday, today saw the excavation resume for its second week. Between 10th-22nd July members of the local community will be joining us to help out, and this is being coordinated by Christine Rawson (who can be contacted at c.rawson@elmetarchaeology.co.uk). We were also visited by a number of members of The Friends of Monk Bretton Priory who have been actively promoting the site since 2002.

Community base camp, where Christine keeps a seemingly limitless supply of jelly babies

Work started in earnest on Trench 2 today. Although the topsoil has only just been removed, initial cleaning has already started to reveal features. Running through the trench is a substantial structure about 1m in diameter. This could either be a huge wall (about the same size as those of the church) or another feature such as a path. Only with further excavation will we be able to tell.

Michaela and Kaya cleaning up in Trench 2

In Trench 1 drawing has continued apace, with Veronica and Morgan completing our second plan of the whole area. As well as drawing the stones we record the exact position of features in three dimensions. This is so that in the future people will be able to reconstruct exactly what we've removed during digging and relocate precisely where all the features are.

Pete with the Leica TCR407 Total Station. Not as cute sounding as the traditional 'dumpy' level but rather more useful. Unfortunately the dig budget doesn't run to an iPad for Freya, who has to make do with a piece of 1/2" plywood.

Digging also continued and we're beginning to get more details of some of the buildings emerging. One of the most exciting discoveries today was the survival of a stone flagged floor in front of the fireplace we uncovered on the first day. This area really is beginning to look quite promising, and potentially proves (we hope) that part of the Talbot mansion once stood on this part of the site!

Mateusz starting to 'flag'

Close by, and in what appears to a separate room, Will and Paul have been working on an area that appears to have been disturbed in the 20th century. Despite this we still have to dig carefully to make sure we gather any evidence for this, and the expert trowelling really paid off when we found the crucial dating evidence: a 1950s baked bean can.

"Mister, I love the way you wear that hat",
"You don't know nothin' bwoy"

After this startling 'find of the day' had been gently lifted and bagged, Will was able to clean up the last of the modern disturbance and made an even more thrilling find, a second stone fireplace base. Although not quite as nice looking as the first, it really confirms we're digging in a high status domestic building.

'Newish' Will just has to go one better

Day Six: One down, three to go

2010-07-08T10:51:00.000+01:00

The final day of the first week proved to be busy and productive. After the rain and clouds of the day before the sun returned in full force for another perfect, if dry day. One of the first jobs was to get Trench Two ready for this coming Saturday, when it will be the focus for our local community volunteers. The turf was taken off on Monday and today the remaining topsoil was removed today by Paul and Jordan. However, we forgot to take a photo so here you can see Pete and Alex attempting to steal the credit.

Small but perfectly trowelled, just not by them

Trench two is placed in an area where we dug a test pit at Easter. Then as well as Tudor period pottery and window glass we found evidence for what looked like a series of mortar floors. The new trench is placed to find more of these as well as including what we think is a wall which is visible as a parch mark in the grass, and is already appearing in the topsoil (both can be seen in the pic above).

Another wall emerging in Trench 1

Back in Trench One work continued removing the last of the demolition layer that was covering almost the whole area. This has revealed yet more sections of wall and it is clear that they belong to a variety of different phases, so a lot more digging will be required before they can be fully interpreted. One of the main ways we can do this is by looking at the stone by stone drawings that we're doing, and today Sandy and Veronica completed the second plan of the entire site.

Emma spots a possible tarantula, Alex and Hugh look sceptical as everyone knows they're only found in zoos, unlike octopuses

Finds continue to come thick and fast, and although so far we haven't washed any (so don't have many pretty pictures yet) this will be an activity being started by our community volunteers on Saturday. However today we found quite a lot of large pieces of architectural stonework including a fine piece of window tracery. This all comes from the monastic phase of the site and was probably reused as building material in the Tudor period.

'New' Will with his tiny pin

At the opposite end of the scale Will demonstrated beginners luck on his first day on site (as well as his eagle eyes) by finding a perfectly preserved copper pin. Pottery to be the most common find and we found another nice piece of slip decorated 'Cistercian ware'.

'Tash of the day' and 'sunburn of the day' proudly
on show at the end of week drinks

The week ended with the traditional lemonade in the Red Deer, when all were able to relax after all the exciting findings of the last six days. Paul and Rob seem to be displaying lasting reminders of their experience, and everyone is looking forward to a day off on Friday!

Day Five: Rain on our parade

2010-07-07T21:41:00.011+01:00

Even though is rained lots the word of the day was definitely "Clean!" The aim was to get all the features and layers uncovered so we can plan them tomorrow and hopefully excavate some more great finds!

Pete pontificates to Emma and Jordan about the value of a good mattock!

Andy has his dogs keep a keen eye on the excavation

Lots of drawing is taking place on site with the trench fully planned after the removal of topsoil and elevation survey in the Priory west range.

And everyone wondered why it didn't take Alex ten minutes... (Expand to see the full glory)

The artefact below shows the value of community engagement; handed in by a local this moulding could provide evidence of the re-use of Medieval material in the Tudor period.

Small but beautifully carved

As well as trench one, the team focused their attentions on trench two, Wilhelm and posh Rob removed the topsoil in readiness for the beginning of excavations on Saturday. In addition to the finds handed in by the locals we gathered a few of our own today. Below is shown a piece of lead window came, used to hold together the glass panes in a 16th century window.

Sandy attempts to hide her excitement...

In summary - despite the rain the team did a brilliant job and thanks for Elmet Archaeology for the gazebo!

Find of the day: A small decorative belt mount found by Veronica

Day Four: Lots of Walls

2010-07-06T20:29:00.014+01:00

Today saw a real emphasis on walls and structures. Claire and Morgan have started their building recording on the wing away from the excavation. The site has lots of upstanding walls that seem to be medieval, but many were changed or adapted in the Tudor period. Here you can see Claire standing on what was originally a medieval lancet (narrow slit) window that was later turned into a large Tudor one. Jordan is taking the measurements and Morgan drawing the individual stones.

Please keep off the walls

Boss Pete's lovely drain (well spotted!) was cleaned up by Dom, Matt and finished off by Emma, whilst the wall was tackled by Jordan. They now look like they were built together (the features) and there is a clear construction cut for both visible. It's beginning to look like the outer wall of the house.

Oh so neat

Inside trench 1 all sorts of features have been popping up. There are now three distinct areas of compact clay surrounded by softer dark areas. These are currently being interpreted as floors, surrounded by walls that have been 'robbed out'- the stones removed to leave a negative impression of the wall. Given this doesn't make for good pictures, or not yet, it's worth just reflecting on some those brave souls chipping away at this sun baked soil.

"It was this big "
Will and Emma comparing their finds

Find of the the day- a section of brilliantly preserved 13th century door moulding with capital top (pics to follow)

Context of the day- erm, it actually came from the back garden of one our local visitors.

Visitors of the day

Day Three in the Big Tudor House...

2010-07-05T22:17:00.010+01:00

Today we finished taking back all that scrumptious topsoil from Trench One. We had some more good luck with the weather today, it wasn't too hot and the rain held off. On the downside, this uncharacteristically dry weather meant that the soil continued to be very dry and rather difficult to trowel and so (despite showery promises from the weather man) Hugh whacked on the sprinkler during our morning tea break and made everyone's life a little bit easier.

Rob, Will and Paul were kept busy opening up Trench Two, this was a 4x4 metre area where the lads found another wall. Although at the moment we aren’t quite sure what it belongs to. Check back soon for more exciting developments in Trench Two!

Paul and Will doing some de-turfing at Trench Two. Rob seems to have scarpered.

Some more de-turfing in Trench Two. Rob is back but appears to be having a little rest. What a slacker.

Veronica, Sandy, Jordan and Emma were working on an extended area of Trench One where they found a wall running North-South; this was probably outside of the building in the main section of Trench One. As it turned out, we were all in for a little treat when this area yielded a lovely drain spotted by boss Pete. Notably, the drain was covered but missing the stone capping. This little gem was rewarded find of the day. Other than that, we found lots of bits and bobs from this area, including some animal bones, pottery, glass and a small part of a clay smoking pipe.

Pete steals Emma's mini-mattock. Everyone wants a piece of the action. More pictures of the drain to follow!

Clare and Morgan scampered off away from the rest of the team to indulge in a little bit of drawing. They undertook an elevation survey of the walls of the priory. With these drawings, it makes it a bit easier to spot which areas have been modified. Such areas can be spotted through the refashioning or blocking of windows or doors. Clare and Morgan sketched up a particularly important area of the priory as these medieval buildings are known to have been re-used and adapted in the Post-Medieval period. Annoyingly, most of these Post-Medieval features were stripped away when the Priory was "tidied up" by the Ministry of Works in the 1930's. Gutted.

After the soil from Trench One dried up a bit Dom, Alex and Matt did some drawing as well. Using a grid, they drew up a plan of half of Trench One. This is a useful way to accurately record features and artefacts found in a layer.

Alex and Matt doing some mighty fine planning.

That is all for today gentle reader. Check back tomorrow to gently read about the exciting goings on of Day Four.

Find of the Day - Drain!

Day Two: 'top' soil

2010-07-04T21:13:00.009+01:00

Today we concentrated on removing the layer of topsoil below the turf line. This varied in thickness across the site, but as it was baked solid it seemed to be like chiselling toffee.

Rob is clearly impressed with trowelling topsoil

However, despite the baked desert conditions, some features are already visible, and we finished cleaning the fireplace feature found yesterday. Although we can't tell the full extend of the building it relates to, it's nice to know it wasn't just plough soil being dug today.

The fireplace

Dom the 'Hungarian Hurricane' whipping off that dirt

Today we had a visit from Charlie who's been working at our 'sister site' at Sheffield Manor. As well as wanting to find out what archaeology actually looks like, he wanted to show off his beard that has apparently been the talk of the town at the other site. The days must fly by there.

Sandy is clearly overwhelmed

Although we're only just in the very upper layers there have been no shortage of finds, ranging from the late medieval to the rather too modern. Beating the 15th century glass Krautstrunk fragment (a German drinking glass) and the medieval moulded window tracery, the popular vote lead to Jude's 16th century Cistercian ware drinking cup being voted 'find of the day'.

There's no accounting for taste

Day One: Turf, sweat and mud!

2010-07-03T20:34:00.021+01:00

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)

The final countdown

2010-07-02T19:59:00.011+01:00

Base camp, no Sherpas

The day before the excitement was due to begin, Hugh, Pete and Sandy spent the day getting things ready for the off . First task was dropping off all the equipment, tools, bags, drawing boards etc on site (well as much as you can pack in a Golf and a Corsa), and making sure we've got everything we need to hit the ground running tomorrow.

Hugh and Sandy find out that dark medieval(ish) buildings have some disadvantages - enlarge to see spiders

HQ was established in the 'administration building' a structure most people think is part of the medieval priory, but one that Hugh claims is rather modern. Such assertions will probably continue to flow, but whatever its origins at least it has a roof, a luxury on this site.

Now you see the turf...

With the first trench, to the north of the church, marked out and just waiting for the first spade tomorrow, the team decided to pay a quick visit to our 'sister site' at Manor Lodge, Sheffield. http://manorlodgedig.blogspot.com/

At least it commands a great view

Here we saw another property owned by the Talbot family and it gave us an idea of the type of archaeology we might expect to find. Inspired we left waiting for the fun to commence tomorrow.

The sun shines upon us?

2010-06-28T20:40:00.009+01:00

Minus four days and counting!

Today Hugh & Pete visited the priory to carry out some preliminary survey; setting up a local grid (on which to plot all those pretty artefacts we shall uncover) and laying out Trench 1!

We encountered a grand total of just two people visiting the site today enjoying the views.

The weather was glorious and hopefully a sign of things to come. So everything is prepared for Saturday morning and the arrival of a hoard of archaeologists eager to dig and record. Hope to see you all there!

The blog is launched...

2010-06-24T21:21:00.003+01:00

The excavation starts in just over a week's time, so do check back regularly!!