Tuesday started with everyone helping to shovel the soil, dug out last week, back into Trench 4. This trench hadn’t revealed much in relation to the medieval village, with only 1 piece of medieval pottery found and still no evidence of structures. A break for a cuppa was needed after the hard work and Jan had made a few apple muffins and another batch of her infamous triple choc chip cookies, which provided a much needed boost of sugar. The team then moved back into the paddock and managed to get all the turf removed from Trench 3, ready for more digging on Wednesday.
Another half hour of backfilling Trench 4 began the day on Wednesday. The team then moved to Trench 3, hopeful of locating a medieval building or perhaps a Roman villa. A few finds of pottery and bits of brick, kept hope alive for something interesting at the bottom of the trench and more of Jan’s triple choc chip cookies kept the team going.
More spade work on Thursday, again half an hour backfilling Trench 4, which should be completely filled in next Tuesday, followed by removing the remaining plough soil from Trench 3. Jan complained that she hadn’t had a trowel in her hand all week. The bottom of Trench 3 revealed yet more plough marks, no medieval manor, no finds which may have indicated a market place and definitely no Roman villa. So, it looks like having dug up a field, the team have discovered an older field. Disappointing, but the gang aren’t about to give up and another plan has been formulated to keep them busy next week at another location in the village. Once Trench 4 has been completely filled in and excavation of Trench 3 completed and recorded, of course.