Day 13

A group of us continued the excavation of Trench 1 or the ‘sand pit’, as we decided to call it, on account of the masses of sand we shifted! We were aiming to find any hints of the castle ditch, but all we found was pure sand! We debated whether the sand was natural or wind blown because it was so clean with no shells or finds. But everyone endured and worked very hard and we laughed and joked all day as we dug. At the back of the trench we uncovered more of a natural outcrop of limestone, which was suspiciously round, but whether it is natural or shaped by human hand is also up for debate. It was suggested that such an outcrop it might be a good base for a barbican, but no suggestions are set in stone! A group continued the investigation of the tower base and revealed a nice section abutting the tower, which will hopefully yield more information about its construction, and I am looking forward to the results as the sand was also present in this trench. It will be interesting to establish whether the sand was cut through to build the tower. The cheerful pot washers continued merrily with their task not even complaining about their crinkly ‘mermaid fingers’, as they called them (which I really liked). All in all some interesting archaeology and lots of laughter.

Fay Bowen GGAT Project Archaeologist