Day two highlights

Day two of the dig

Alan Lovell pays the dig a visit…

3.15pm We were delighted to welcome Alan Lovell, Chair of Hampshire Cultural Trust, when he paid us a visit this afternoon to see how we were getting on. While he toured the site and talked with the dig supervisors, Hyde900’s Rose Burns caught up with him for a chat.

Professor Martin Biddle tours the dig

Distinguished archaeologist Martin Biddle visited the site today and talked over each trench with the supervisors. He is enthusiastic about the potential of what we are finding, and thinks it likely we are in the area of the actual cloister buildings (such as the monks’ refectory) rather than just the general cloister area.

Professor Biddle will be returning to the dig tomorrow morning to see what progress we have made.

Members of the community hard at work…

Dad Jamie with Tilly and Flora sieving in No.15

2.30 pm Community participants of all ages have been working away in all the trenches. At No.15 sieving is hard going because the soil is wet after last night’s rain, but the team keep at it undaunted, examining each small find as they go.

Midday progress update

In the garden of No.15 a medieval surface is beginning to emerge

1.30 pm In the garden of No.15, in trench 13, where Signe Biddle was excavating yesterday, a surface, probably medieval is emerging. The next stage is to record and then dig the whole pit down to that level.

Here, in the adjacent Trench 9, supervisor Stuart Rippon digs down with two participants to see if they can find a continuation of that surface.

A medieval wall emerging in Trench 10

In Trench 10 at No.10, a foundation of medieval walling has been found. A tireless participant is excavating carefully around it to see what an intriguing feature at one end of it might be.

A few yards away in Trench 11, participants are still removing the upper layers but will soon be down to the layer where they can see if the Trench 10 walling continues here.

David Ashby cleaning in Trench 12 with a trowel

In adjacent Trench 12 David Ashby, the dig’s archaeological adviser from the University of Winchester, has found a mixture of medieval demolition rubble and walling, and also further walling from which traces of Roman plaster have emerged. It is not known yet whether we are looking at medieval walling here or something older.

Hopefully we will have more news about this exciting trench by the end of the day.

Dr John Crook recording and drawing the situation so far in Trench 8

In Trench 8, where we are extending the excavation of the area that revealed parts of the Norman arch last year, Dr John Crook is preparing to draw the layers that have been uncovered so far.

In this trench we already have a clear medieval wall, and what may be part of a medieval floor. There is also what seems to be another of the voussoirs that were found last year. Once Dr Crook has finished recording the current levels, he and participants from the community will extend the trench to get a bigger picture, and then go down further to the lower layers.

Expert archaeologist pitches in with a trowel…

We are lucky enough to have had the digging assistance of renowned archaeologist Signe Biddle for the start of the dig. She spent the day hard at work in Trench 13.