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.

Week two and more discoveries at Godolphin!

The archaeologists are back on site for the second week of ‘I Dig Godolphin’, and we’ve had another successful day.
Cathy couldn’t stay away, and has decided to spend more time digging at Godolphin, rather than returning to Canada. We’re happy she decided to come back, as she uncovered another interesting find on site today! 

Cathy’s iron object causes a lot of interest on site.

Cathy’s find.

Our archaeologists think that this may be an iron masonry tie.

Dave, a kiln expert, visited the site today to help us identify the type of kiln we have uncovered in trench D. Dave has been dismantling a kiln in Lelant, and told us that Mike Dodd and Peter Schofield’s kiln was built in the style of a Japanese climbing kiln. This enabled the heat to be directed up and down on to the pots, and each individual chamber could benefit from controlled heat, ensuring the best firing for each style of pot.

Volunteers uncover more of the kiln in trench D.

Sandra has been washing pottery from the 1970’s kiln.

Trench A is getting deeper, and we have now uncovered a layer of medieval pottery. This will enable us to date the movement of the soil above, and hopefully point us towards a conclusion on the ridge in the middle of the orchard.

Digging deep in trench A.

In other news, as well as the 19th century rum bottle, Trench E has produced what appears to be part of a 17th or 18th century decanter,  and some 15th/16th century pottery. Today we also saw the opening of trench F. This picks up the ramp leading up to the Cider House, and we hope to uncover more finds when we reach the base.

It’s been a very long day on the dig, in the drizzly rain- fingers crossed for a little more sun tomorrow!

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.