Northern Archaeology Today 8

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NORTHERN ARCHAEOLOGY TODAY YORK ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST MAGAZINE

This issue:

Archaeology Live! Hardwick Hall Lenton Priory and more

Issue 8


C

ontents

Archaeology Live! North Street, York

issue 8 December 2015

Welcome! As the winter evenings draw in, it’s time to batten down the hatches, get comfortable and read about the summer’s fieldwork. Arran Johnson reveals the findings of the latest season of York Archaeological Trust’s hugely successful training excavation at North Street, York, while Gareth Davies tells us about the community project on the site of Lenton Priory, Nottingham, and Rowan May of ArcHeritage explains unusual features found in the grounds of Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire

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Getting to the Point 6 Hardwick Hall Icehouse and Duck Decoy 11 Environmental evidence from Peaseholme Green 16 Lenton Priory

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Post-excavation research also continues, and the study of deposits excavated at Peasholme Green, York by the Trust’s Dickson Laboratory reveals a window into life in medieval York; while an unprepossessing lump of concretion from a Channel Island shipwreck may hold a mysterious medical implement, according to Mags Felter of the Conservation Laboratory.

Editor: Peter Connelly Layout and design: Lesley Collett (lcollett@archaeographics.com) Printed by B&B Press, Parkgate, Rotherham Northern Archaeology Today is published twice a year: UK subscriptions £10.00 per year, Overseas subscriptions £14.00 (sterling) per year. To subscribe please send a cheque (payable to York Archaeological Trust) to: York Archaeological Trust, 47 Aldwark, York, YO1 7BX or telephone 01904 663000 with credit card details. Northern Archaeology Today is published by York Archaeological Trust. Editorial and contributors’ views are independent and do not necessarily reflect the official view of the Trust. Copyright of all original YAT material reserved: reproduction by prior editorial permission only.

© York Archaeological Trust 2015 Cover picture: Aerial view of the Archaeology Live! training

York Archaeological Trust is a Registered Charity In England & Wales (No.509060) and Scotland

excavation at North Street, York.

(SCO42846) and a company limited by guarantee without share capital in England, number

Photo courtesy of David Dodwell

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ISSN: 2049-5897


Archaeology Live! Training Excavation 2015 Arran Johnson, York Fieldwork Department The archaeology of York is internationally renowned for its complexity and excellent preservation. Excavations within the City Walls bring to life the tales of countless groups and individuals that have called York home, allowing us to see how the city has grown and developed over the past two millennia. Since 2001 the Archaeology Live! training excavation has allowed over 3000 individuals to add their own discoveries to the history of this ancient city. The project is wholly funded by its participants and offers a professional level of training that has been a first step into a career in archaeology for over 100 people in the last decade alone.

Aerial view of the excavation. Image courtesy of David Dodwell

Since March 2014 the Archaeology Live! team have been excavating in the grounds of All Saints, North Street, one of York’s finest medieval churches. Nestled in a quiet leafy enclave between medieval and Georgian buildings, the All Saints excavation marks the project’s first foray onto the west bank of the River Ouse and offers a rare opportunity to work within the Roman colonia. Until the end of 2013 the site was occupied by a single-storey brick structure built in 1860. The building was originally used as a church hall but went on to serve as a Sunday school, a mortuary chapel and, in its latter years, a boxing club. An unfortunate 20th century scheme of ‘improvements’ led to the building becoming increasingly damp and by the turn of the millennium, the boxing club was forced to relocate. With the building demolished an opportunity to investigate the site beyond its Victorian past was presented to the Archaeology Live! team.

Site

Site location of All Saints North Street Archaeology Live! training excavation

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January 14th 1826. The plot went on to receive the burials of parishioners for 28 years, until the closure of all of York’s churchyards in 1854.

All Saints Church Hall prior to demolition, October 2012

As the layers of trample and debris left by the mid-19th-century builders of the church hall were recorded and taken away, numerous fragments of clay tobacco pipes with a moulded fleur-de-lys decoration were unearthed. Pipes and tobacco could be purchased from 19th-century pubs and the pipes were often decorated with imagery to match the pub’s signage. Historical research revealed that in the 19th century a pub named the ‘Prince of Wales’ was found to have traded on nearby Skeldergate. Was this the source of the clay pipes, along with a refreshment or two, for the workmen as they took time out from digging the foundations for the building? Below the mid-19th century construction horizon, the team began to find evidence for a little-known period of the site’s history. On February 12th 1825 the plot was sold to the Parish by the Rector of All Saints, Rev. William Leonard Pickard, for the princely sum of £90. The site was purchased to act as an extension to the densely-occupied churchyard and was consecrated by the Archbishop of York on 2

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To date the burials of 44 individuals have been identified and recorded. All of the burials have mirrored the north-east/south-west alignment of the church and were laid out in rough rows in which adult and adolescent individuals were found to occupy graves of up to a metre in depth. The decayed remains of tapered timber coffins were found in each grave, some of which featured decorative brass panels. One burial was found to contain at least two individuals stacked one above the other, indicating that graves may have been used repeatedly as family plots. While some graves were positioned very close together, no adult burials were found to intercut, suggesting that the graves were clearly marked by mounds and/or monuments. Only one grave marker was discovered in situ, comprising of an un-mortared stack of recycled medieval brick built directly over the head end of the coffin. Excavation revealed that the remaining cranium of the individual within the grave had been badly crushed when the timber coffin collapsed under the weight of the bricks. A high percentage of the burials were those of infants and juveniles and these were found to occupy much shallower cuts with some evidence of intercutting. Despite this, almost every infant burial was furnished with a coffin and in one example a poorly-preserved name plate with the words ‘...aged 0 years...’ remained legible. These were clearly sanctioned burials, interred by families of at least some means. The burial of one juvenile exhibited clear evidence of dental enamel hypoplasia, a condition which manifests itself through ridges in teeth and bones and is the result of severe childhood illness or malnutrition. Discoveries such as this serve as a reminder of the hardships that people endured during the 19th century. Burials are highly evocative features to work with and they can provide an invaluable insight into the often harsh realities of life and death in the past. Investigation of these remains has


Excavation and recording of burials whilst a site visit is in progress

allowed the team to witness very personal moments of loss and to come face to face with the people who lived through the times we study. Burials also need to be treated very carefully and with respect; in this regard only burials at significant risk of damage from erosion are being lifted until plans for the redevelopment of the site are finalised. The deeper burials have been partially exposed, recorded and then re-covered beneath a protective cushion of sieved earth and wooden boards. All excavated burials are stored in the ossuary of All Saints church before being re-buried at a safe depth. This strategy allows the remains to be assessed whilst also being safeguarded from damage and treated with due care and respect. As work on each burial was completed, the team was able to investigate the earlier material that survived between the graves, and their discoveries produced a picture of a very different landscape. Historic documents relating to the plot’s purchase by the church in 1825 refer to buildings occupying the site prior

to its clearance and consecration. A number of structural post holes, cobbled surfaces, pits and dumps were excavated that dated to the late 18th and early 19th centuries. At this time, the site seems to have been occupied by roughlybuilt workshops facing on to Church Lane. Now a secluded footpath, this narrow street was once a busy link between Rougier Street and the waterfront of the Ouse. Finds recovered from these workshops have begun to shed light on how and when they were used. At the south-west end of the trench, many fragments of metalworking residue were discovered, suggesting that the plot may have been leased by a blacksmith. The central area of the trench contained the remains of an edge-set tile hearth and a number of pits filled with butchery waste, direct evidence for food processing. At the north-eastern end of the trench, a large pit was excavated that contained a large assemblage of cattle horncore fragments. This provided clear indication that horn-working was taking place in, or close to, this site. As horners tended to work close to leather-workers, the site’s proximity to Tanner northern archaeology today

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Row is clearly significant. If nothing else, these discoveries tell us that the site would have been a busy, smoky and a rather pungent place at the turn of the 19th century.

The Rectory walls under investigation. Image courtesy of David Dodwell

At the southern extreme of the site, the team exposed a substantial brick wall, with a related brick floor and cobble-floored chamber. These structural remains represent a late 18th/ early 19th century rebuild of a Rectory that is thought to have occupied the site from the 15th century. Excavation of the chamber revealed it to be the cesspit of the new Rectory and was found to contain fragments of broken chamber pot and the residue of cess between the cobbles. As the building sequence was picked apart, an earlier stone structure was revealed beneath the brickwork. Comprised of re-used masonry, perhaps sourced from the church, the structure would have served as a footing

for a large structural post, and dated to the medieval period. In addition, several further structural post holes were discovered, revealing the outline of the medieval predecessor to the rebuilt Rectory. A number of investigative slots into earlier, deeper deposits provided some intriguing and unexpected results. At the north-east corner of the site, a slot was excavated through the surface of Church Lane. While much of the underlying archaeology had been disturbed by drains and electricity cables, a small area of the road’s 18th-century surface was found intact. Surprisingly, a row of burials dating to the mid-1700s was found to run beneath this surface in close proximity to the church. This represented an unusual occurrence for a period of history when burials were usually kept at a distance from their churches. The burials will have also significantly narrowed what was then a working thoroughfare. Further work in 2016 will hopefully clarify this curious sequence. At the opposite end of the trench, several slots were excavated in and around the footprint of the Rectory. These revealed a number of 14th-century dump deposits that pre-dated the building, a discovery that will help to date its original construction. Historic documents mention little or nothing about what was happening at the site before the construction of the Rectory. As the team descended into the underlying deposits, it was possible to glimpse how the site was being used in the centuries immediately following the Norman Conquest. Beaten earth surfaces and ashy deposits served as clear indicators of occupation, work and disposing of waste from hearths. While the slots proved that the site was occupied in the 12th and 13th centuries, they only offer a keyhole view into the sequence that will be further investigated in the 2016 season. The 2014 and 2015 seasons of Archaeology Live! produced a staggering array of finds, ranging in date from prehistory to the 20th century. Highlights have included a Neolithic polished stone axehead, a pair of medieval

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dice, a beautiful antler spindle whorl, an array of Roman to 19th century coins and a huge range of ceramics. One fragment of a 13th-century York Glazed Ware jug featured a seal that was distinctive enough to relate the vessel to the individual who commissioned it eight centuries ago. The crest features a bird taking flight, a design by a notable York citizen Thomas FitzWalter that was created to celebrate a marriage and/or the birth of a son. Linking artefacts to historic individuals is rarely possible, making this an extraordinary find. A further ceramic highlight was a zoomorphic (animal-shaped) fragment of a 15th-century Hambleton Ware lobed bowl. This curious green-glazed creature (affectionately nicknamed ‘Dino’ by the team) would have been set in the base of a communal drinking vessel. As people passed around the bowl, it would have emerged from the wine or beer and provided an amusing surprise for the guests. Perhaps the most striking find so far has been a skilfully carved Roman intaglio. Made of cornelian, a translucent mineral imported from Turkey and Iran, the stone would have been set into a ring and used to authenticate documents by creating an impression in wax. The images, deities and personifications people chose to use as their seal can reveal a great deal about their allegiances and beliefs. This example appears

to represent Venus Victrix holding the Arms of Mars and dates to the 2nd-3rd century AD. This wonderful glimpse into the mechanics of empire also provides a wonderful insight into how one citizen of Roman York chose to represent themselves.

A medieval surface below 19th century building remains.

The last two seasons of Archaeology Live! have been a fascinating opportunity to investigate an under-studied part of York. The hard work of almost 400 trainees has revealed an astounding sequence hidden beneath a once-dilapidated church hall. We now know that the many boxers, parishioners and clergy who sparred, worked and studied in the building over the past century and a half were adding to a story that extends all the way back to prehistory. The freshly-unearthed Roman intaglio

FOOTNOTE

Thank you to the team at

All Saints Church and all of our trainees and placements

for making the All Saints Excavation such a success.

See http://archaeologylive.org/ to learn how to get involved with the 2016 season! Archaeology Live! placement Katie Smith and ‘Dino’

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Getting to the Point Conservation and Investigation of a Mystery Object from the Alderney Shipwreck Margrethe Felter, Conservation Department The island of Alderney has been the site of an investigation into a major Elizabethan shipwreck since 1991. The wreck was first discovered in 1977 by a local lobster fisherman and the first archaeological interventions began in 1993, with initial surveys leading to lifting of the rudder and a cannon. Since 1993, archaeological interventions have continued, providing a better understanding of the shipwreck (Monaghan & Bound, 2001, 6). There have been several theories as to the exact identity of the ship, although no clear evidence has been found to definitively identify her. However, the most current thinking is that the wreck is one referred to by Sir John Norreys (commander of the English forces in Brittany during the defence of Calais Roads in the late 16th century) in two letters to the Privy Council in 1592. In the letters Norreys describes a ‘shypp that was cast away about Alderney’ which was meant to have carried dispatches to Norreys (Parham, 2001, 164). This theory is the current working hypothesis and objects recovered during archaeological interventions appear to support this.

Concretion 1366 before conservation

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Objects from this wreck are lifted from the seabed on a regular basis and finds to date include breastplates, helmets, cannon, leather shoe fragments, copper alloy ‘apostles’ (musket powder containers), powder flasks, a pestle and mortar, a ceramic hand grenade, cannon balls, pottery sherds and many more. A distinct category of finds is the ‘concretion’ which usually refers to wrought or cast iron objects with a thick ‘shell’ of marine concretion, formed when iron corrosion products come into contact and react with adjacent material such as sand from the seabed and skeletal material from marine organisms (North & MacLeod, 1987, 83). Concretions containing wrought iron artefacts are often hollow as the iron corrodes away quickly while the concretion is forming, leaving a void in the shape of the object. In some cases it is possible to cast these voids and remove the concretion leaving a positive mould of the object. At YAT several such casts have been done using a silicone rubber as the casting material. Objects treated in this way include a spur and the spout from a wooden powder flask. This article will


describe the conservation treatment of one such concretion and the investigation into possible identifications this has led to.

Detail of copper alloy elements on the X-ray

Conservation Initial investigation and display

Concretion 1366 was brought to York Archaeological Trust Conservation Laboratories together with several other concretions and the first order of the day was an assessment of the material. This is standard procedure here in the lab and requires radiography of the material followed by detailed examination and evaluation of the object’s potential for further information to be gained. The assessment revealed the remains of a poorly preserved wrought iron object, encased in marine concretion, with several amorphous nodules and lumps as well as pottery sherds and stones incorporated within the concretion. The X-rays from this object turned out to be interesting, showing a void in a shape reminiscent of medical forceps or tongs, together with small cogs and rivets of copper alloy (showing up as bright white on the image, top right). This led to the first suggestion that the object may be of medical origin. X-rays were taken at various angles and exposures to show as much of the object shape as possible. Although the object had a break near the centre point it was in relatively good condition, with the thick concretion protecting the position of the copper alloy elements.

rubber. To this end, several access points to the interior were created by drilling, using a 3mm diameter tile drill bit. The access points were determined by careful measurement of the X-rays. Due to the complex shape of the object and the thin nature of the iron elements, a total of 22 access holes were drilled. Initially, attempts were made to fill the void with a contrast gel made of barium sulphate (20% barium sulphate weight by volume (w/v) and 5% (w/v) gelatine) in order to gain a better X-ray image. In theory, the barium sulphate, which is radiopaque (blocks X-rays), will show up as a white image when fed into the cavities left behind by the corroding iron. However, this was unsuccessful due to the viscosity of the gel and the thickness of the concretion. The gel was flushed out using warm water.

Further work The client, Alderney Maritime Trust, was then contacted to find out what the next step should be for the object. It was decided after consultation that the object was unique enough to require further investigation to get as much information as possible from the concretion, and to try to gain a definitive identification if possible.

At this point it was decided to attempt the cast. This was done using a silicone mould rubber chosen for the properties of being strong, flexible, providing a high definition of the original surface, being able to cure at room temperature and being fluid enough to flow into the small cavities left behind by the corroded iron. A syringe was used to apply the rubber into the concretion via the drilled access holes.

In order to gain more information about the shape and function of the object it was decided to attempt to cast the interior voids (where the wrought iron had corroded away) using silicone

Plasticine was used to block the holes once the relevant part of the concretion was filled with the rubber. The ‘handle’ end was treated first, followed by the thinner end, allowing the rubber northern archaeology today

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Work in progress on the cast: the access points into the cavity are revealed as small plugs after removal of concretion around them

Removing the concretion and revealing the cast with an electric engraver

to cure for 24 hours in between each application. At this point the concretion was removed mechanically using an electric engraver (below).

10% Paraloid B72 w/v in acetone applied with a pipette, allowing the shape of the object to be retained.

At several points during the removal of the concretion it was necessary to re-apply rubber where the first application had not been sufficient to reach the thinnest extremities of the void. Some areas of the object, such as the terminals of the ‘handle’ and the extremity of the thinner end, were too thin for the rubber to penetrate. Fortuitously, the remains of the corroded iron object were mostly retained in these areas and so the corrosion products were consolidated using

It was not possible to remove the entire concretion from the object, as the thin nature of the moulded replica would be too fragile to survive without the support of the concretion beneath it. The lower part of the concretion was therefore left in situ to act as a permanent support.

Identification

Due to the unusual nature of this find, the search for identification began by casting the net wide and trawling the internet. The object appeared to be reminiscent of some kind of surgical instrument or clamp but a search of surgical instruments did not bear any fruit. However, after several other searches an image came up from www.surgicaltechnologists.net and www.CollectMedicalAntiques.com which immediately sprang to mind as being a possible candidate for our Alderney example. The website described this item as an ‘arrow-remover’ from the 1500s but gave no other information, except for a description of how this object was used: ‘Not much is known about this tool, but it is hypothesized that it was inserted into the wound

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The object fully revealed with the supporting concretion underneath it

in a contracted position, with the central shaft used to grasp the arrow. The blades, which appear to have their sharp edges facing outward, were then expanded using the scissor-like handles, thus expanding the flesh around the arrow to prevent the arrowhead from ripping through the meat as it was pulled out.’ Strickland and Hardy (2005, 284-285) and Cole and Lang (2003, 95-101) mention the surgeon John Bradmore and his operation to extract an arrow from the face of prince Henry (son of Henry IV) which he had been unfortunate enough to receive at the battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. Bradmore had written a description of the procedure in his Philomena [the Nightingale] which mentions the use of an early example of an arrow remover: ‘And it should be known that in the year of Our Lord 1403, the fourth year of the reign of the most illustrious King Henry, the fourth after the Conquest, on the vigil of St Mary Magdalene, it happened that the son and heir of the aforesaid illustrious king, the Prince of Wales and Duke of Aquitaine and Lancaster, was struck by an arrow next to his nose on the left side during the battle of Shrewsbury. The which arrow entered at an angle (ex traverso), and after the arrow shaft was extracted, the head of the aforesaid arrow remained in the furthermost part of the bone of the skull for the depth of six inches. The aforesaid noble prince was cured by me, the compiler of this present

Philomena gratie [The Nightingale of Grace], at the castle of Kenilworth – I give enormous thanks to God – in the following manner. Various experienced doctors came to this castle, saying that they wished to remove the arrowhead with potions and other cures, but they were unable to. Finally, I came to him. First, I made small probes from the pith of old elder, well dried and well stitched in purified linen cloth [made to] the length of the wound. These probes were infused with rose honey. And after that, I made larger and longer probes, and so I continued to always enlarge these probes until I had the width and depth of the wound as I wished it. And after the wound was as enlarged and deep enough so that, by my reckoning, the probes reached the bottom of the wound, I prepared anew some little tongs, small and hollow, and with the width of an arrow. A screw ran through the middle of the tongs, whose ends were well rounded both on the inside and outside and even the end of the screw, which was entered into the middle, was well rounded overall in the way of a screw, so that it should grip better and more strongly. This is its form [illustration]. I put these tongs in at an angle in the same way as the arrow had first entered, then placed the screw in the centre and finally the tongs entered the socket of the arrowhead. Then by moving it to and fro, little by little (with the help of God) I extracted the arrowhead.’ The description as an arrow-remover seemed to fit the details we can see on our example northern archaeology today

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Arrow remover, copyright Robert E. Greenspan, reproduced by kind permission

but further searches of ‘arrow-removers’ did not bring up any more information. Although arrows were still being used at the time of the Alderney wreck, they were starting to be replaced by the use of the musket, illustrated by the large number of muskets found in association with the wreck. Our instrument may therefore be a late example of an arrow-remover. However, the search was widened by enquiring at the Thackray Medical Museum in Leeds, where curator Lauren Ryall-Stockton was able to point out another possible identification: that of a bistoury caché, an instrument very similar to an arrow remover but one which was also used in the lithotomy procedure (removal of bladder and gall stones). It may not be possible to be completely sure about the identity of this instrument, but it seems clear that it was indeed a surgical tool, and one which would have been used in extremely interventive surgical procedures. What is unclear is whether the instrument, and other medical accoutrements found, such as the pestle and mortar, were used on board ship or if they were being transported for use on land during

Bistoury Caché, image copyright Science Museum/ Science & Society Picture Library,reproduced by kind permission

and after fighting or for general medical issues. Further work on the Alderney project may help to shed light on this mystery.

References:

Cole H and Lang T, 2003, ‘The Treating of Prince Henry’s Arrow Wound 1403’, Journal of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries 46, 95-101. Monaghan, J and Bound, M (Eds), 2001, A ship Cast Away about Alderney – Investigations of an Elizabethan Shipwreck, Alderney Maritime Trust. North, N A and MacLeod I D, 1987, ‘Corrosion of Metals’ in Pearson C (Ed), Conservation of Marine Archaeological Objects, Butterworths, London Parham, D, 2001, ‘The Norreys Letters’ in Monaghan, J and Bound, M (Eds), 2001, A ship Cast Away about Alderney – Investigations of an Elizabethan Shipwreck, Alderney Maritime Trust. Strickland, M and Hardy R, 2005, The Great Warbow, Sutton Publishing, Gloucestershire. www.surgicaltechnologists.net/blog/20-scary-old-school-surgical-tools/, accessed 2.11.2015 www.CollectMedicalAntiques.com, accessed 2.11.2015 http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/objects/display.aspx?id=5493,accessed 2.11.2015

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Hardwick Hall Icehouse and Duck Decoy Restoration, Derbyshire

Rowan May, ArcHeritage

As part of the National Trust’s programme of maintenance and conservation works in Hardwick Hall’s Grade I Registered Park, an ice house and a nationally-important duck decoy are being restored. ArcHeritage are undertaking archaeological monitoring, recording and consultation during works on these historic structures. Hardwick Hall, near Mansfield, is best known for its connection with the Elizabethan countess Bess of Hardwick. The hunting park was enclosed by her brother James around 1570, and his estate was subsequently purchased by Bess’s son, William Cavendish, later first Earl of Devonshire. Bess moved to live at Hardwick in 1584, remodelling the Old Hall and constructing the New Hall between 1591 and 1598, after the death of her estranged fourth husband restored to her control of the lands and wealth she had inherited from previous marriages. Both halls survive; Hardwick (New) Hall is Grade I Listed, whilst the Old Hall, a Scheduled

Monument, was abandoned in the late 18th century and adapted into a picturesque ruin. Hardwick Hall was the principal residence of the Earls of Devonshire until 1694, when the 1st Duke moved to the rebuilt house at Chatsworth. Following this, Hardwick was maintained principally as a working and sporting estate. The 7th Duke undertook a number of improvements in the decade between 1858 and 1868, including the construction of the ice house and duck decoy. During the Second World War a military camp and depot were established at the western side of the park, occupied by the 1st Parachute Brigade; it was used after the war to house refugees. Plan of Hardwick Hall and park, showing the location of the duck decoy and ice house.

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Accounts of the dredging of the Great Pond in the 1970s record that around 630 bicycles and four motorbikes were found in the silts, thought to have been thrown in by soldiers returning to the camp after nights out in Chesterfield or Mansfield. In 1959, the Hardwick estate passed to the Treasury as part of the payment of death duties for the 9th Duke; the Hall and park were then granted to the National Trust. The ruined Old Hall is in the guardianship of English Heritage. ICE HOUSE The ice house is situated between two of the Row Ponds in the Lower Park. This flight of ponds is amongst the earliest features within the park, possibly originating as medieval fish ponds. The ice house was constructed on the dam between the second and third ponds in 1858.

The main entrance to the ice house, after removal of infill and brick blocking

Ice houses were first introduced to England in the 17th century, becoming common at stately homes in the 19th century. They were used to store ice, which could be taken from nearby ponds in the winter or imported from colder countries. The ‘cup and dome’ ice house, which the Hardwick example belongs to, is one of

the most common designs. These were deep cylindrical chambers excavated into the ground, with a drain at the base to take away melt water. They were usually lined with a thick brick wall, sometimes a cavity wall, to improve the thermal qualities. The domed roof, covered with clay and turf to create a low mound, aided air circulation. Entrance was via a tunnel, usually constructed with at least two sets of doors to prevent heat entering the chamber. Some ice houses had a central hatch in the roof through which ice was deposited, with the main entrance used for taking it out. Ice would be thrown into the chamber, with straw piled around it for insulation. The compacted ice fragments would remain frozen for many months, and could be used for the preservation of perishable foods, to cool drinks and to make popular cold desserts, such as ice cream and sorbets. The entrance to the Hardwick ice house was bricked-up in the mid-20th century, when the upper levels of the entrance tunnel were demolished, and the remainder infilled with earth and rubble. The exposed brickwork is in poor condition; conservation of the structure is required to ensure its stability and to restore its historic appearance. Removing the earth in the entrance and recording the surviving structure were key aims of the archaeological works. There is also an additional opening on the eastern side of the dome, sealed with a metal grille that has allowed rainwater and refuse to accumulate within the chamber. Some of the brickwork around this opening is of modern appearance, and one of the aims was to establish whether this was an original feature or a later alteration. The removal of earth infilling the passage revealed that the side walls were three bricks thick and the floor was also of brick. The tunnel would originally have had an arched roof but this had been removed when the entrance was blocked. The wall ends were rounded and there had clearly been two doors, as demonstrated by the stone thresholds at either end of the tunnel. The position of each doorway was further

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marked out by narrow rectangular niches in the brickwork to hold timbers for securing the door frames. Vertical cracks in the tunnel walls demonstrate a serious structural failure where the porch joins the ice chamber, possibly the reason for the closure of the ice house. The main entrance to the ice chamber had been bricked up before the tunnel was infilled. Removal of these bricks revealed the arched doorway to the main chamber, or ice-well, which held a considerable amount of rubble, rubbish and water. The waste material included an unexploded three-inch mortar shell, and site works were halted while the bomb squad assessed its status. Fortunately, it proved to be inert and could be removed without detonating the structure. The shell almost certainly came from the nearby military camp, and must have been deliberately placed in the ice house for disposal. Other military-associated finds included another mortar tail fin and a broken bayonet. The cylindrical ice chamber has vertical sides and is around 4m in total height. The walls are two bricks thick with no apparent cavity and are rendered on the internal surface. The slightly convex base is paved with concentric rings of brick and has four drains around the perimeter. Excavation around the edges of the upper hatch indicated that this was an original feature, initially in the form of a short tunnel porch similar in style to that of the main entrance. Though the arched roof and parts of the side walls of the porch had been demolished, enough survived to confirm its existence. The grille and modern brickwork seem to have been added to the hatch after the demolition of the porch. This discovery will inform the plans for the restoration of the ice house and the porch may require stabilisation or reconstruction to prevent long-term damage to the structure. DUCK DECOY The Hardwick Hall duck decoy is of national significance, being the best surviving example of its type in the country, a rare form known as a

The upper entrance to the ice house, showing the remains of the porch side walls

trap or cage decoy. The term ‘decoy’ probably comes from the Dutch ‘ende-kooy’, meaning ‘duck cage’, and they are thought to have been introduced into England in the 17th century. The more common pipe decoy form is a large pond with at least three corners, into which long channels (‘pipes’) are set, covered with hooped nets. The trap decoy instead has an island central to the pond, bisected by a channel covered with hooped wire nets, with trapdoors at either end that could be remotely operated by a windlass and pulley system from two sighting-houses located to either side of the pond. The trap decoy seems to be an East Midlands variety, and only nine are thought to have been built. The pond and central island, with resident tame ducks, were designed to attract passing wild ducks. Sir Payne-Gallwey’s description Hardwick decoy in 1886 states that:

of

the

‘The [tame] Decoy birds are always fed inside the cages, and plenty of food is strewn therein at all times to tempt the wild birds to enter. Both trap doors are left up, and as soon as the Decoyman observes any wild birds in either partition, he slowly, and inch by inch, lowers the door that closes it and so entraps the birds therein. He leaves them undisturbed on the chance of making another catch in the other partition, and does not take the captives out till after “flighting” time.’ The decoy was partitioned into two cages with separate entrances because the direction northern archaeology today

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Schematic plan of the Hardwick Hall duck decoy, after an 1886 illustration in Sir Ralph PayneGallwey’s Book of Duck Decoys.

of the wind would determine which way the ducks would enter. This method of capturing ducks meant that meat free of lead shot could be provided for the table. The Hardwick decoy had a relatively short use-life of less than 40 years, being constructed in 1860 and silted over by 1899. Even though more than a century had passed since its last use many of the iron hoops which supported the wire netting still stood, though unchecked vegetation growth on the island was threatening the surviving structure. The National Trust intends to restore the cages and reinstate part of the decoy pond, and the archaeological recording aimed to inform the conservation works. The work was planned to establish details of the construction methods, condition of the structure and whether any of the mechanism for raising and lowering the trap doors remained in situ. Following the felling of self-seeded trees, a mechanical excavator was used to remove the deposits infilling the channel. The surviving iron hoops were removed for conservation and will

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either be reused in the reconstruction or used as a template for new hoops, depending on their state of preservation. The sides of the channel are defined by two low sandstone walls, with three courses of roughly-dressed blocks topped by a layer of thin flagstones. In places the tops of the walls have been extensively damaged by root activity. Though full exposure of the base of the channel was impossible due to groundwater incursion, the excavation revealed that it was formed of compacted stony clay, rather than the expected brick or stone paving. The iron hoops supporting the cage had been set into thick wooden posts around the edges of the channel. There were originally 17 pairs of posts and hoops, spaced at regular intervals of 1.5m (5 feet). Seven pairs of the posts had been set into cast iron sockets, but it was unclear whether the lack of sockets for the other posts was an original feature or the result of later repairs or modifications. The ends of the cages were marked by stone sills, each with the stumps of four wooden posts set into them to support the cage and central trapdoors. The remains of a wooden partition between the two cages crossed the centre of the channel. A copper


alloy pulley wheel and cables formed of twisted copper alloy wires found in the silts were part of the mechanism for operating the trapdoor. A row of posts along the centre of the decoy supported the surviving cage framework; these are likely to be a later addition to prevent the frame from collapsing rather than part of the original design, which should have been selfsupporting and unobtrusive. CONCLUSIONS The archaeological recording at the Hardwick Hall ice house and duck decoy have provided important information on the construction methods and materials, alterations and condition of these historic structures. This will directly inform the National Trust’s restoration plans and will enable the decoy and ice house, currently obscure or invisible features in the landscape, to be experienced, enjoyed and understood by visitors to Hardwick Hall.

Removal of silts in the duck decoy, showing the in situ cast iron hoops of the cage

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ArcHeritage would like to thank the National Trust and Askew Nelson for commissioning the archaeological works and Oldknow Contracting Ltd for their sensitive and collaborative excavation of the ice house and duck decoy

View of the duck decoy after removal of silts

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A Medieval Vernacular Floor at All Saints Churchyard, Peasholme Green, York Jennifer Miller & Sharon Carson, York Archaeological Trust Dickson Laboratory for Bio-Archaeology Founded in the late 11th or early 12th century, the medieval church of All Saints, Peasholme, York and its associated cemetery were located towards the eastern edge of the medieval City, bounded to the east by the River Foss and the Kings Pool. Serving a poor parish by the 16th century, All Saints was deconsecrated in 1586 following a 1547 local Act of Parliament and was extensively robbed out over the following decades; the area became the Peasholme Green wool market, then the Haymarket in the 1820s. In the recent past the area has been a car park and Homeless Centre.

Site location

Occupation floor within stone structure exposed during excavation

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Various archaeological investigations at the Haymarket were carried out between 1986 and 2014 by York Archaeological Trust on behalf of City of York Council, during which a sequence of activity spanning Roman to the 20th century occupation was recorded. This included the excavation of part of the medieval cemetery associated with All Saints church, the large skeletal assemblage from which is currently in early stages of analysis. In 2012, the remains of a large medieval stone structure were partially exposed on the east side of the churchyard, following the removal of an extensive layer of demolition rubble. This was a significant discovery due to the scarcity of medieval vernacular stone buildings of this date, both in York and the wider region. Interpreted as a domestic structure of considerable size and founded in the 12th or 13th century, the building was well constructed from dressed stone, implying high status occupation. It had been extended to the north in the 13th or 14th century, within which occupation floor deposits


were found to be well preserved, sealed below demolition waste. This rare find provided an exciting opportunity to investigate the diet and domestic habits of the occupants of a single dwelling. Analysis was carried out at York Archaeological Trust’s Dickson Laboratory for Bio-Archaeology; this article presents the findings of that work. Environmental Evidence Pottery typology suggested that occupation of the stone building extension dated to the 13th to 14th centuries. A sealed, secure organic deposit covering the floor of this extension was dated by association; this was sampled in order to characterise the nature of the organic material and provide evidence relating to the form and function of the structure during this period. Processing and laboratory analysis of a 10L sample of this deposit confirmed the initial archaeological interpretation of a domestic dwelling, with evidence for food processing indicated by the botanical and zoological assemblages. Additionally, ceramic building material (CBM), metal, mortar and magnetic material were recorded during processing, probably reflecting the destruction layer that had sealed the organic material below. The deposit was wet and anoxic but probably only intermittently waterlogged since inception, as suggested by the fact that uncarbonised botanical remains only survived for the more robust seeds or plant fragments. These are likely to be residual from a far more varied initial assemblage. By contrast, the carbonised botanical material was unaffected by water and oxygen level fluctuations, since carbon is completely inert. Such materials preserve via loss from events involving fire, meaning that they give a very particular insight into events within a sealed deposit such as this. A number of very modern Asteraceae (daisy family) seeds and birch tree remains are almost certainly intrusive from the excavation. The presence of them helps define which plant macrofossils were contemporaneous with the occupation and which were modern within the wider assemblage.

The charcoal assemblage within the sample examined was dominated by oak (Quercus), with round wood of willow (Salix) also present in smaller quantities. It is unlikely that oak would be burned on a kitchen hearth; during the 13th to 14th centuries oak woods were primarily under ownership of wealthy landowners or the Crown, making the wood prohibitively expensive for daily use. Furthermore, oak burns at a temperature that is far too hot for gentle cooking. Consequently, this charcoal is more likely to relate either to the main hearth for the dwelling or potentially the demolition layer. By contrast, the willow charcoal recorded could easily reflect hearth fuel, although residual wattle, roofing struts or small domestic items cannot be excluded. The cereal assemblage recorded was in poor condition, a status that is frequently observed with botanical materials that have been subjected to prolonged heating at the edge of a domestic hearth. Such cinders were often scattered on the floor to help absorb the liquids and smells of medieval life, where trampling further eroded them. Nevertheless, despite their condition, both bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) and rye (Secale cereale) were recorded, together with field pea (Vicia faba) and less well preserved peas (Vicia/Lathyrus sp). These cereals and pulses are entirely typical indicators of medieval occupation. Carbonised food plants are often recorded on archaeological sites in small quantities only; the scarcity of them highlighting the level of care taken to avoid careless and wasteful loss of valuable foodstuffs on the hearth during processing.

Two carbonised peas,(c. 5mm long) recovered from the environmental sample.

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One uncarbonised fig (Ficus carica) pip was of note (above). Since pips are usually swallowed with the fruit, this is a rare find outwith a cess pit. It may have been spat out or perhaps a fig fell onto the floor during kitchen processing. Either way, it highlights sufficient resources to buy what was at the time an expensive luxury food item. Collectively, the food plant assemblage supports the interpretation of at least moderately wealthy medieval domestic living. Uncarbonised fig pip (c.1.5mm in

occupation floor deposits. Four vertebrae were sufficiently well preserved to be identified to order. Two were Gadiformes (cod, hake & similar) and two from Cyprinidae (carps and true minnows). The fish remains, probable poultry fragment, medium and large mammal bones demonstrate the exploitation of a range of different fauna for food. Oyster shell, and poultry (Galliformes) egg shell and especially fish scales were also recorded. Collectively the faunal and botanical assemblages support the interpretation of a wealthy medieval domestic living space where food was either prepared or consumed, or both.

size) recovered from the environmental sample. Note the difference in preservation of this pip with the peas in previous photograph.

The bone assemblage recovered from the sample was moderately substantial despite the small 10L size, although the majority of it was highly fractured and too small for identification. This factor further supports the interpretation of an occupation floor with significant human traffic. Occasional fragments displayed characteristics enabling them to be assigned to mammal size categories, from small to large. A single small fragment of unidentified bird (very probably poultry) was also recovered. The colours of the mammal bone varied considerably, from a light sandy brown to a dark black-brown, suggesting deposition over time or variable degrees of post depositional disturbance. The most predominant type of bone was fish, in particular fish vertebrae. The majority of these were fragments, with only the centrum of the vertebra remaining intact; this would concur with recurrent disturbance within 18

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Centrum of small fish vertebra of probable cod/hake type (c. 8 mm wide), recovered from the environmental sample.

It is likely that the food waste ultimately found its way into the flooring rushes of the medieval house. That rushes were on the floor here is suggested strongly by the presence of uncarbonised remains of grass culm nodes and numerous leafy shoots of heather (Calluna vulgaris). Bog myrtle (Myrica gale) and lesser spearwort (Ranunculus flammula) may have been included to sweeten the rushes. Burnt seeds of probable yellow rattle (Rhinanthus major) and wood forget-me-not (Myosotis cf sylvatica) will also have been brought into the building with domestic rushes. It is well known that medieval households scattered grasses, straw or other plant stems, generically


termed ‘rushes’, on the floor for insulation and comfort, adding to them regularly rather than removing them frequently. Indeed, the purpose of the domestic ‘thresh-hold’ was once to hold in the flooring rushes. However, definitive evidence for them within a defined medieval domestic context is very rare, meaning that this is an extremely exciting find. Micromorphology A small block of sediment recovered stratigraphically down through the medieval floor deposit was prepared as a thin section slide to enable high magnification analysis of the sediment accumulation processes. This revealed multiple fine alternating lenses containing ash, charcoal or other carbonised plant remains and amorphous organic material in varying quantities. Most of the lenses also contained other components including burnt and unburnt bone, marine shell, avian egg shell, sediment aggregates and CBM/pottery. All reflect general domestic occupation. The lenses suggest accumulated hearth waste deposits within a domestic structure. In situ hearth deposits generally display microlenses of charcoal, ashes and rubified (burnt) sediment in a parallel orientation. This phenomenon was not observed here; no true lenses of rubified sediment were recorded, although ash and charcoal layers were present. By contrast, hearth cleaning activities produce dumping components that vary in composition from pure ash to a mixture of ash, charcoal, and sediment, as observed within the different alternating layers of this floor. Trampling has contributed to the accumulation of the floor material; lumps or clods of sediment transferred from the soles of feet have become compressed onto the floor surface to form lenses. The parallel orientation of soft materials such as plant remains suggests that downward compression aligned these malleable inclusions parallel with the surface of the lens below. Evidence of trampling was observed throughout the alternating layers, expressed by the presence of sediment

Thin section slide showing alternating organic and mineral lenses with inclusions.

aggregates, clods of other material and the downward movement of larger components such as bone and pottery/CBM fragments in some areas. Further evidence of trampling was observed with the presence of in situ fractured, compacted and crushed bone and charcoal fragments. Ash lenses contained calcium carbonate ash derived from wood charcoal with some other plant material. The charcoal fragments themselves were poorly preserved showing signs of abrasion, whether resultant from predepositional or post-depositional alteration processes. However, it is likely that most of the larger fragments have been subjected to the

Detail taken from micromorphology sample slide showing a tiny fragment of pottery/cbm (4mm in size) at an acute to vertical orientation, suggestive of downwards compression.

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to house animals, but rather serves to further highlight that the floor was not particularly clean!

Detail taken from micromorphology sample slide revealing evidence of phytoliths, circled in blue, (< 100Âľm in size)

effects of trampling, appearing to be crushed and/or fractured. None of the charcoal fragments were identifiable as most were only minute flecks without visible identifiable characteristics. Occasional phytoliths (siliceous inclusions in plant material) were observed. They probably derived from floor rushes or other plant materials brought into the building and are especially recorded in grasses and sedges. Phytoliths corroborate the grass culm (stem) nodes and grassland weed seeds found within the environmental sample to support the interpretation of an occupation floor spread with grassland ‘rushes’. A small fragment of possible herbivore dung was noted at the bottom of the slide. The provenance of this is interesting, potentially suggesting butchery of a small herbivore or introduction into the floor on footwear from outside. A single small fragment of possible dung does not imply that the building was used

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Conclusion Numbers of individual food remains were not extensive within the deposit examined, which is to be expected for a deposit representing casual discard on an occupation floor. Nevertheless, although the environmental sample examined was only 10L in volume it still revealed a great deal about the nature of occupation within this medieval structure. The floor deposits included bread wheat, rye and pulses, with evidence of figs, eggs, oysters, fish and meat from mammals and birds, most probably poultry, also indicated. This range of materials undoubtedly reflects background domestic detritus within a fairly wealthy household, close to the food preparation area, but not immediately adjacent to the cooking hearth. Evidence for rushes on the floor of the medieval building is a very unusual and interesting find, owing a great deal to preservation within a wet, anoxic environment. The micromorphological analysis fully supports the bulk sample analysis, further revealing that hearth waste and trample deposits of domestic occupation material accumulated within flooring rushes. Collectively, the environmental and micromorphological evidence have revealed a rare and informative glimpse of life in wealthy medieval York. Whether the building was integral to All Saints church or belonged to an independent wealthy family is still unclear, although there is likely to have been at least some association. Regardless, the parish that All Saints church served was not, on the whole, rich, which makes the contrast with this high status structure and standard of living of the occupants all the more significant.


The Lenton Priory Community Archaeology Project Gareth Davies (Trent & Peak Archaeology)

Following on from the 2012–2013 excavations on the site of Lenton Priory, carried out in advance of Nottingham’s new tram network, and the subsequent Nottingham City Council (NCC) funded community geophysical survey in the Summer of 2013, Trent & Peak Archaeology (TPA), and partner organisations, were delighted to find out in September 2014 that they had secured £65,000 of funding for further investigation of this much-neglected Scheduled Monument. Along with TPA the partner organisations involved in the project are NCC, the Dunkirk and Lenton Partnership Forum (DLPF) and St. Anthony’s Church, with support from the Department of Archaeology at the University of Nottingham and English Heritage. This new phase of the Lenton Priory project set out with two main aims. Firstly, it aimed to undertake exploratory excavation, focussing on the site of the main priory church (founded in 1106–7 AD) and the inner precinct to the north, in order to gain insight into the state of preservation of the main priory church. This aim would also allow the project to gain an understanding of the date and sequence of geophysical anomalies identified in 2013, as well as a better appreciation of the deposit quality within these areas. Ultimately the exploratory excavation would hopefully provide better management of the site, with the ultimate future

TPA’s Paul Flintoft leading guided tours around the priory during the Martinmas Fair

goal of enabling public presentation and on-site interpretation. Secondly, the project aimed to re-establish Lenton Priory within the public consciousness of Nottingham, ultimately helping to regenerate the area around Abbey Street. A big focus of this part of the project was the re-establishment of the Martinmas Fair (the medieval site of which was discovered during the tram excavations) to be run by the DLPF. The first of these re-established fairs was held as a very successful event, attended by over 500 people, on the 15th of November 2014. northern archaeology today

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(Ordnance Survey map reproduced with the permission of Her Majesty's Stationery Office Š Crown Copyright Licence No. AL 100020618).

The 2014 excavated trenches (red) plotted against 2013 geophysical anomalies (coloured areas) and projected priory layout (grey)

Interim Results Of The Exploratory Excavation A total of seven trenches (see plan above) were excavated and recorded between October and December 2014 by a team of community volunteers and TPA archaeologists. Although excavations have only just concluded, and the project is now engaged in post-excavation analyses, some of the key highlights can be revealed. Two trenches were excavated within the footprint of the main priory church, reinvestigating excavation areas originally opened by Herbert Green, a local schoolmaster, in the 1930’s. A trench located on the east end of the church (Trench 2) demonstrated that the one extant column at the site sits on top of the internal curved wall of the ambulatory. In this location no stone-flagged floors were preserved, but the team were able to demonstrate that 22

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well preserved wall-lines remain immediately below ground level. Surprisingly, although the walls were substantial the original foundation trenches were relatively shallow, at 0.5m deep, and relatively insubstantial when compared to other similar sites, for example at York Minster where foundations have been found to be 2m deep. Perhaps this contributed to the documented collapse of the main church tower in 1228 AD! Further along the nave, to the west, a second trench located in the Boat Inn public house garden (Trench 3) identified the original flagged floor level of the church, a pier base and some choir stalls that re-used earlier medieval masonry. This trench also established that the north wall of the Boat Inn pub garden is indeed the north wall of the main priory


church. This was further confirmed by two further trenches (Trenches 4 and 5), situated in the churchyard of St. Anthony’s to the north. Both of these trenches revealed north facing external buttresses of the main priory church (below, right), which allows for the accurate reconstruction of the dimensions of the nave for the first time. A significant assemblage of architectural stone was recovered from all the trenches surrounding the priory church. The trenches abutting the northern extent of the priory church also confirmed that the churchyard was perhaps always reserved for burial from the medieval period onwards as a number of graves were identified; all were deliberately left in situ. No artefact-rich buried soil horizons or densely intercutting pit and ditches were identified in this area, as was the case further to the north in the proposed Outer Precinct (partly excavated in advance of the NET-2 tram line) and in a further small trench excavated in 2014 towards the Abbey Street frontage (Trench 6).

The one remaining standing column sitting on top of the ambulatory wall at the east end of the priory church, close to Old Church Street, looking north

Trench 4, detail of a buttress on the north wall of the priory church (note later walling above), Churchyard, looking south

The final two excavation trenches were located further north in the western part of the churchyard and within Priory Park, west of St. Anthony’s church. In the western part of the churchyard (Trench 9) the team were delighted to uncover a north to south aligned wall that may well represent the western boundary wall of the inner precinct of the priory. This wall, and a further northeast to southwest oriented medieval ditch, aligned very well with geophysical anomalies identified in 2013. Interestingly, a number of unexplored anomalies in this area do not align to the priory layout and there remains a possibility that future excavation may be able to demonstrate the existence of pre-priory enclosures. The northernmost trench (Trench 7), located in Priory Park, identified a complex sequence of intercutting soil features, including numerous pits and ditches with a sequence of activity extending from the 1200s to the 1600s AD. The observed sequence was very similar to the proposed market/fair site excavated to the northwest of Abbey Street in 2012–13 and northern archaeology today

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Trench 9, DLPF volunteers excavate the north-south aligned inner precinct wall, Churchyard, looking south-west

reported upon in NAT#4. On the basis of this new evidence we can now confidently assert that similar medieval mercantile activities were occurring in the Outer Precinct on both sides of what is now Abbey Street. What next? The results from the latest campaign of excavation have been fantastic, and everyone involved in the project can now start to gauge just what an exceptional resource the remains of Lenton Priory represent for future research, interpretation and public engagement. It is hoped that this latest project represents the first phase of putting Lenton Priory ‘back on the map’ both in Nottingham, the East Midlands and 24

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beyond. To this end we are delighted that NCC has agreed to provide further funding for the re-imagined Martinmas Fair for 2015. The team are also presently delivering a comprehensive schools programme to Dunkirk and Lenton residents as part of the HLF programme and the tram builders, Taylor Woodrow Alstom, have contributed financially to a heritage trail which will incorporate a sequence of interpretation boards. TPA are also very pleased that Lenton Priory figures prominently in the city’s new heritage strategy and hope that the coming years can see further investigation and interpretation of this site to bring it to a wider audience and develop it as a prominent heritage hub for Nottingham.


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