13 Jul 2013

Festival Of Archaeology 2013, Cedars Park - Day 2


trench 2
The central gap in the wall is in fact a deliberate feature

Although we managed to open two of the three planned trenches today, extreme heat and humidity has limited the pace of work.

Trench 1, located outside the west edge of the privy garden wall, has been sited to locate the point where two drains previously revealed by Museum of London Archaeologists (assisted by EAS) last year should intersect. The drains appear to connect the privy gardens with a reservoir at the west end of the palace site, and it is hoped that by examining their meeting point at the corner of the gardens, we can find out more about their function and date.

Unfortunately, this area affords no shade for most of the day, and with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees, the heavy digging work in this trench had to be abandoned for the day early in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, in trench 2 by the doorway and window set in the garden wall (pictured yesterday), we found by close inspection of the standing brickwork that the large gap we had thought was simply a collapsed section of wall is in fact (at least in part) another window like opening. The trench subsequently revealed a bay-like projection at the base of this gap (pictured), and poses a number of questions about this section of the wall.

We hope an early start tomorrow will help us to get more work done before the worst of the forecast heat hits, and to answer some of the questions posed today.


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