16 Jul 2013

Forty Hall - Festival Of Archaeology - Day 1


eas diggers

Today was the first day in our six-day long dig in Forty Hall, continuing our research into Elsyng Palace, as part of the festival of British archaeology.

For the last few years we have been working in an area to the west of what was the outer Tudor courtyard, investigating a building that we now believe to be a threshing barn. Apparently dating from the mid to late seventeenth century, this building fills in a gap in the history of the site between the final demolition of the palace and the construction of the current lime tree avenue and pleasure grounds between c.1650 and 1750.

Very little was previously known about this time in the site's history, and we hope to fill in some details about the building including an accurate date of construction and demolition, as well as hopefully finding out more about the palace precinct in this area.

Although the very hot weather continues to be a challenge, today we managed to open a few small trial areas, to identify parts of the building we discovered last year, so that we can follow them and fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge later in the week.

Meanwhile, throughout the week in cooperation with the Forty Hall Estate, we will be taking primary school classes on short tours of the site and explaining about how the site has changed over the past five centuries, as well as (hopefully!) sharing the discoveries of the excavation as they happen.


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