HANL cleaned by Chris and I (got wet). HANE cleaned by Matthew and I (got wet).
However, as the month wore on we
built up to what proved to be the hottest April day for nearly 70 years
with temperatures reaching 28 degrees C. and we were out in it
digging, really digging, to remove by spade deep deposits of generally
clean silts from the western portion of the ditch round the central mound of the water parterre.
Despite hacking away at this with frequent water breaks Matthew managed
to spot a very nice late seventeenth / early eighteenth century clay
pipe, more useful dating evidence for the silting up of the ditch.
Major clearance going on as we continue to dig away the ditch silts.
Improvements to the infrastructure or interesting things to do with pallets: a) turn it in to a bridge or b) create a coffee table, both equally important.
Checking out the next layer down: more destruction debris
Almost there, just one corner left to dig by the end of one very hot day plus the key find.
Because of other commitments the last week of the month saw us on site for one day only. Fortunately we had a good turn out and were able to crack on taking down the silts from the ditch on the west side of the mound and bringing up more interesting finds including another earlier clay pipe bowl and a bit of technology. It was only a tiny copper alloy keeper for a small bolt but it offers the promise of greater things to come. Finally at the end of the day in two separate locations the main destruction layer was uncovered in two locations at the bottom of the ditch and looks to be packed full of interesting material... and the next day it rained... all day.
Everyone was fully occupied but paused to admire this small piece of copper alloy.
Two sections of destruction material, the first in the south west corner id mainly of tile with the possibility of some preserved timber whilst the second on the north side is rubble.