The week started with a final push to fill in Trench 4, to the satisfaction of the garden owner. A hungry robin flitted around the team whilst they worked waiting for them to finish so he could get into the freshly turned soil for his breakfast.
It was then off to finish cleaning up and recording Trench 3. It was noted that the plough marks seen in the other 2 trenches in the paddock only seemed to be visible in the northern end of Trench 3 and there seemed to be less finds. There was no home baking this week, but Manju had brought along some very nice, and slightly alcoholic, profiteroles for the team to enjoy after lunch.
Wednesday saw the team at a new location on the outskirts of the village, to do some geophysics and investigate some interesting garden features. Whilst they were out of the way a local metal detectorist had been given permission to sweep the paddock where Trenches 1, 2 and 3 were located. Today’s treats, a couple of packets of choccy biscuits, were supplied by Alison. After a longer than anticipated lunch the team got caught in a very heavy rain shower and had to seek shelter in a doorway for a while, further delaying completion of the geophysics which would have to wait until tomorrow.
Jan was first to the team’s tent HQ in the paddock on Thursday morning and was eager to find out what, if anything, the metal detectorist had found. There were about half a dozen metal items including 2 Elizabethan coins. Unfortunately these were Elizabeth the Second 2p and 1p coins. So nothing to indicate a medieval market place on the land. The archaeology at this site has raised far more questions than answers and generated numerous theories about the layout of the medieval village.
So what next? The team are having a break next week, but will be back the following week for the final phase of their archaeological investigation of the village. Residents are being asked to volunteer to dig 1m2 test pits in their gardens over the following 3 weeks. The team will be on hand at their HQ to provide support and equipment or to dig the test pit and are hoping that many residents from across the village will get involved.