The penultimate day’s digging

The dig site at Godolphin was a hive of activity today, as the archaeologists began a final clean of all the trenches, before beginning to draw (cross)sections and use surveying equipment to record the trenches and finds.

More of the medieval road was revealed today…

The road is revealed.

…and a section was cut further in to it, to test the depth of the road.

Testing the depth of the road.

Both trenches D and F look great after a final clean today. Trench D shows the full extent of the remains of the Cider House pottery kiln, while trench F contains the remains of the Cider House ramp.

Volunteer Barbara does a final clean of the ramp in trench F.

 

The kiln volunteers do a final clean up too.

To save the best until last, today trench D provided us with a wealth of Peter Schofield/Mike Dodd pottery. Some pieces are almost entirely intact, with only minor chips, while others are unfortunately more broken. This was such an exciting find for us today, as the volume of pottery means that we can use some objects as part of our handling collection, to help us tell the story of Godolphin and the families that lived here. What a great find, well done Alex!

Alex finds a significant dump of pottery.

Fame for the kibble handle!

Today we welcomed Chris, another new volunteer to the dig site. He got stuck in to trench A… with a Cornish shovel!

New volunteer Chris in trench A.

In trench B, we have now discovered a faint brown line in the clay, running the length of the trench. This could be a ditch cut into the natural (subsoil). Can you spot the archaeology in the photo below?

Spot the archaeology.

I’ll give you a clue, it’s on the right hand side of the photo. Our volunteer Louisa is going to investigate more of this tomorrow.

More progress has been made on the Breage-Trescowe track, and it has been a great talking point with visitors today.

The medieval track emerges.

Trench D has provided yet more pottery, as today the pottery dump was discovered. This contained a wealth of broken pottery and test pieces, which we will now wash, pack and record for the archive. Hopefully some of these pieces will then be added to our handling collection, currently on display in Godolphin’s King’s Room.

The kiln boys reveal a pottery dump.

After some excellent research by our volunteers and archaeologist, it has been made apparent that yesterday’s bucket handle find, is not a bucket handle at all. It is the handle from a kibble – the bucket used to bring tin and copper up from mines. Later our volunteer Keith found the accompanying chain.

Fame for the kibble handle, as a local paper visits to photograph progress on the site.

Today the kibble was photographed as one of our interesting finds for a newspaper article. Look out for Godolphin in next week’s The Cornishman!

Potty about pottery!

It’s been another great day at Godolphin, and our luck with finding pottery hasn’t run out! It has been made apparent, through research evidenced by finds over the last two days, that there was a small make-shift pottery adjacent to the Cider House, before the Cider House Pottery itself. The young Peter Schofield, who grew up at Godolphin, decided to create his own pottery in the grounds. Accompanied by his friend, the potter Mike Dodd, they began to work on this project in the 1960s. Today the floor of this pottery was uncovered, complete with handmade bricks and pieces of broken pot.

Two volunteers uncover the floor of the pottery in trench D.

Research tells us, that this became redundant after the Cider House Pottery was used in the 1970s. Bernard Leach, a close friend of Peter Schofield’s mother Mary (who was the sister to renowned St Ives artist Peter Lanyon) assisted the young potters in creating a working pottery, thus leaving their little pottery to the side unused.

We are very pleased to have uncovered the floor to pottery, and in turn discovered a little more about the story of pottery here at Godolphin. Let’s hope the other trenches become this successful too!

Sieving for finds in trench A

The sieving continued in trench A today, and the trench itself is becoming much deeper. We are hoping to cut further in to provide a cross-section of the soil. This could potentially help us with the dating of objects, and help us to understand the movement of the soil around the orchard area. In turn this will then give us clues to the agricultural activity around the estate, as this is often the cause of disturbed soil.

Sadly, the trench directly behind the Cider House has not provided us with many finds, and we may need to stop working on it soon. We had hoped to find a clue to a possible building previously situated on the site of the Cider House, but unfortunately the trench has not supported this theory. The shallow trench and number of tree roots also mean that excavation is very difficult here.

On a more positive note, we will begin extending trench D (the old pottery) tomorrow, and also hope to open a new trench at the top of the orchard. Today we welcomed St Uny School to Godolphin, as part of their ‘Treasure’ project. All the staff and students had a fantastic day, and even brought some of their own finds for our archaeologists to identify, including an interesting little Victorian medicine bottle. We look forward to welcoming them to Godolphin again soon.