31st July 2000
Progress report : Words and Pictures by Noel Boothroyd
We have now extended the trench at three points to follow the walls in order to work out the full dimensions and ground plan of the building. For the first wall we found an extension of 8m was not enough to find the end of the wall, so we will be continuing to extend this week. The wall in the extension is noticeably thinner than the rest of the wall, by about 10cm, and may be a separate phase of building.
The wall forming the long side of the larger of the rooms so far discovered turned within a couple of metres of the extension, giving a total external length of 13.7 m (45 feet) and a width of 5.3m (17.5 feet).
The extension around the doorjamb stone showed the moulded face of this stone, and that the doorway was set back from the end of the large room, with a step down into the building.
We have opened another small trench on one edge of the moat where the geophysics survey suggested a large circular structure similar to the dovecote excavated last year. So far there is no trace of a structure, though a linear negative feature is starting to appear, and lots of medieval pottery is turning up, including another jug handle decorated with the same stamp as the one shown earlier.