The walling beyond the water parterre, cleaned up and drawn after a little further examination.
We have a number of volunteers over the years who have contributed artistic efforts towards our understanding of the park but in 2022 we commissioned local artist and fledgling stone mason Louise Regan to paint for us her 'fairy tale' vision of the garden , based on archaeological evidence, but interpreted in a naive style seen in other landscapes from the seventeenth century.
Hanwell Park by Louise Regan (2022)
Work on the library trench in the late spring, look at that fallen blossom around the discovery of an early stone lined drain.
Down on the main site we decided to extend the trenches to the east and north in order to investigate the position of the outer edge of the moat surrounding our octagonal island and to do that we had to get a digger in to shift earlier spoil heaps and remove some of the upper layers of silting At this point it has to be said that we remain uncertain about what is happening with the outer perimeter, again, more work is needed.
The digger digs... so we don't have to.
Here we are on the east side of the island scraping away a winter's worth of rotten leaves then extending our trench further to the east.
... and then later in the summer going round the bend, literally not metaphorically, to undertake another extension of the trench, this time to the north.
Curiously another dog burial, mixed in with destruction rubble was unearthed.
... and loads more drawing done.
One of our stated objectives was to try and recover more evidence for the fountain bowl and sure enough another big chunk emerged.
... and that was it, a final burst of recording then the tools get cleaned up and put away for the winter.
There were a couple of side excursions during the summer for volunteers seeking work experience: Yasmin on a watching brief in a churchyard in Warwickshire and Tessa drawing the remains of a boathouse at the Vyne in Hampshire.