Tuesday 29th July

The final Bullcroft team, with the trench supervisor (standing in a pit?)

Today was our final day in the Bullcroft. Despite not meeting expectations generated by the geophysical survey, Trench 2 has provided a useful comparison to Trench 1 in Kinecroft. The anomaly detected in the geophysical survey was not found in the excavation: perhaps it was the result of geological rather than archaeological action. Overall a number of natural features were encountered including a large tree bowl which had been partially backfilled with rubbish (as indicated by the medieval potsherds found in the fill). All these features were tested by excavation.

There is also evidence of ploughing shown by remnants of ridge and furrow as seen in the photo above. Lines have been incised with a trowel to indicate soil boundaries between layers. The lower layer on the right hand side represents a ridge; the layer in the lower centre with a white label indicates a furrow.

One of several visitors to the trench after the heavy thunderstorms overnight.

Workers from the Bullcroft have now completed their task and are moving over to the Castle Meadows and Kinecroft excavations. Farewell from the Bullcroft trench!

Monday, July 28th

We are now sure that our mystery feature is indeed what we archaeologists call a tree bowl or tree throw: that is, the evidence left in the ground by a tree blown over by the wind. Typically the falling tree takes with it a large clod of earth in its roots, making a kind of crater, which then fills in with other material. Look carefully and you will see that the sides of the feature are not smooth but pitted with hollows - an indication of its natural rather than artificial origin.

Sunday, July 27th

After a relaxing day off and a busy day with the young volunteers we returned to the Bullcroft with renewed vigour. Further heavy digging in the mystery feature indicate that it may be evidence of an ancient tree. Elswhere we have started to draw and record our other features. Back again tomorrow!

Thursday, July 24th

Due to the relatively limited amount of archaelogy in our trench the Bullcroft team have temporarily decamped to the Castle Meadows trench. Here we'll help prepare the way for the open day on Saturday. Watch this space for our imminent return.

Wednesday, July 23rd

Further investigation of features, many of which are proving to be natural. Not so the large feature in the west of the trench, just within the line of the town ramparts.  It is producing good quantities of medieval pottery, but the team are still scratching their heads trying to work out exactly what kind of feature it is. Below you can see the feature in the process of being half-sectioned...

..but not much by way of features in the east of the trench

Tuesday, July 22nd

An extensive trowelling session revealed no sign of the anomalies picked up in the geophysical survey, but other unexpected features were found, and work began on excavating these. This one is proving to be a natural feature.

A couple of pits or postholes have now been identified along with an L-shaped feature. There is also part of a large semi-circular feature in the west of the trench, and this is where much of the pottery is coming from. It is possible this is a pond, a tree-throw or perhaps a large rubbish pit (or possibly a combination of the above, such as a tree-throw re-used as a rubbish pit). Whatever it is, it seems to have some medieval pottery sherds in it.

Monday, July 21st

The Bullcroft always has a completely different character from the Kinecroft and today we showed it has a completely different kind of archaeology too. We used the machine to excavate down to about 0.8m. Whereas the natural in the Kinecroft consists of a whiteish gravel, the natural in the Bullcroft is a bright orange sandy clay. There is a large pit or pond-like feature at one end. At first glance the rest of the trench seems fairly sterile, but we still have to clean over the natural surface in search of features, which sometimes start to show up as the ground dries out. The vertical sections will reveal much useful information about the life history of the Bullcroft as a whole.

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