The final day of our two-week dig on the site of Elsyng Palace went without a hitch, except for a short sharp mid-morning downpour, but we were able to finish of the last small digging job at the north end of Trench 2 and get it recorded and backfilled by late-lunchtime.

There are definitely two diverging phases of wall at the north end of the trench (opposite end of the trench to the well) - the earlier, probably late 15th/early 16th century wall running in a north-westerly direction, possibly on its way to intersect the other hefty wall we found in Trench 3, and then the later, more orange coloured wall built partly over it.

Looking at the brick sizes and more shoddy construction we think the later phase may date to the early 17th century, when the palace was reduced in size by James I and remodelled as a grace-and-favour home for his friend the Earl of Pembroke.

Much more work remains to be done on interpretation, and we will more than likely be back next year to see more of these structures, including more of the room by our newly-discovered well.

As ever, a summary of this year's dig will appear in due course in editions of Society News, and eventually the full dig report will be published here on the EAS website.

A big thank you to our enthusiastic diggers who endured the record-breaking summer and biting insects with good humour, and especially those of you who lugged equipment up and down Forty Hill every day.

We are also grateful to Enfield Parks for clearing the site for us, and to the London Fire Brigade for preventing it from going up in smoke.

A special thank you also to Forty Hall Farm for providing us with tool storage space and the loan of wheelbarrows, without which today's backfilling would have taken much longer.