Day 4 - Excavations at Muncaster Castle

 Anita, Bryan, Len and Bridget working in Trench 1

 

The main discovery in Trench 1 was that the culvert had been inserted into the rubble fill. It is likely that the rubble filled a large ditch heading towards the castle, and the culvert had be constructed to improve drainage.

Leo and Rowan working in Trench 2

All that remained to be done in Trench 2 was to record and backfill it. However, Leo managed to recover a fine collection of 18th century pottery from the rubble layer!

The next blog will sum up the four days of digging!

Day 3 - Excavations at Muncaster Castle

The culvert set into a thick rubble layer
 

We made good progress today, despite having to finish early due to the rain - at least the cafe was handy! Trench 1 was extended to the east to confirm that there was a gravel path heading towards the castle; presumably this was part of an earlier garden design.  At the other end of the trench, the rubble deposit west of the culvert proved to be very thick.

The rubble-filled cut in Trench 2
 

In Trench 2, the rubble layer was found to fill a large cut. The west edge of the cut was found, but not the east. It seems that the rubble layers in Trenches 1 and 2 fill the same, very large cut.