Woking archaeological dig turns up rare pottery




Very rare 15th Century floor tiles from Valencia, held by finds supervisor Margaret Broomfield


RARE Valencian pottery was just one of the finds uncovered by archaeologists carrying out excavations at an historic landmark in Woking.
Teams from Surrey County Council Heritage Enterprise have led the dig at Woking Palace along with Surrey Archaeological Society.
Also present were teams from the University of Surrey and University College London.
Armed with trowels, hand-shovels and buckets, people from the local community have also volunteered at the Carter’s Lane site.
Abby Guinness, Surrey County Council’s community archaeologist, directed the eight volunteers side by side along with more experienced diggers into a tight line to trowel back small sections of the soil.
As volunteers pulled back the dirt, stones and pieces of tile were uncovered.
They were asked to put the pieces of tile into a finds box while the pebbles and dirt were scooped up into a bucket and discarded.
Georgina Wall, who is studying archaeology at Bournemouth University and is taking part in the dig as part of her work experience for the course, said she had found it to be a fun experience.
She said: “On the first day we started a trench in the moat. We used mattocks and shovels to lift up the topsoil and then we trowelled back the surface to see what was there.
“It is quite nice in the sun, it’s just when it rains that you get a bit downheartened.”
When asked what it was like when the group found something, she said: “It is good. It boosts everybody’s morale. It is good to do work experience with professional people.”
Ian Komor, a resident from West End who was doing his first day of digging at the palace site, said: “I just saw it advertised and thought it was a great opportunity to be part of some history. It is quite relaxing, very therapeutic.
“It is a change from my normal office job to get to spend time outside.
“Particularly this place which is not open all the time. It would be different if you could walk through it every day.”
Woking Palace has been designated as a scheduled ancient monument of national importance by English Heritage.
A manor house was first recorded on the site in 1271. It was granted to Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII, in 1464 before being rebuilt as a palace in 1508.
The palace was passed to Henry VIII in 1509 who along with his second wife Anne Boleyn had a major rebuilding programme carried out on the site in 1533 and 1534.
In about 1620 it was converted into farms using material from the palace buildings.
The site was acquired by Woking Borough Council in 1988.


Tudor period


Richard Savage, chairman of the Friends of Woking Palace, which was formed in 2003, said the archaeological excavations taking place this year were just the beginning of a scheduled three-year programme.
He said the trench areas had been found using a magnetometry survey and a resistivity survey – geophysical methods used to look below the soil without digging.
He said: “We have found tiles that have only been found in a few places in England.
“They were made in Valencia, Spain, and date back to between 1450 and 1490.
“They have been found in Billericay in Essex, Woking Palace, St Peter's in Old Woking and in Guildford High Street.
“We think that there were only a couple of shipments brought into England.”
Mr Savage said they expected to find material from the Tudor period and from the first manor built on the site.
He added: “We are hoping to find pottery and other things we would define as medieval.”
Funding of £20,000 was provided for the dig, with £9,000 from Surrey County Council, £6,000 from Surrey Archaeological Society and £5,000 from Woking Borough Council.
An excavation was first carried out at the site in 1911 but since then all the records have been lost.
Rob Poulton, manager of Surrey County Council’s archaeological unit, said the excavations were going well.
“Lots of people have been involved and we have found a lot of things we didn’t know about that have been hard to interpret,” he said.
“When you begin things aren’t quite so certain. We have a broad picture but it is bringing more questions than answers.”
Mr Poulton said they had been overwhelmed by the number of people wanting to take part.
“It has been absolutely brilliant. It is good for people to get an idea of the past they are part of in a sense and how our lives now reflect activities of the past,” he added.
“The way they get to do it is by directly picking up the tiles. It provides a direct connection with the past.”
Residents will be able to see what has been found at the site at an open day to be held on Sunday, August 9, from 11am.
Tours and exhibitions will be available, with the final tour taking place at 4pm.



Source: http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/s/20...p_rare_pottery