Shoot four navigation
It looks as though the waterwheel in the cellar is associated with some brick alcoves, which are very similar to other known examples that were used for holding bellows. This is a good indicator that the building was originally used as a furnace. Following the removal of the modern wall under the arch, a full-scale clear out is taking place so that the Team can really see what they’re looking at.
Midway through the afternoon Trench Three is opened, also in the car park. ‘We’re trying to find some evidence for a building,’ says Jenni Butterworth. ‘A building appears on an early map so we know that something used to be here.’ It is hoped that excavation will reveal if the building had anything to do with any manufacturing that was carried out on the site.
Having just returned from some early filming on the reconstruction cameo, Phil Harding looks on as the trenches are opened. ‘So when are you going to let me do something?’ Phil asks Tim Taylor. ‘I’m taking the boiled egg analogy with this one,’ says Tim. ‘We’re going to crack off the surface and go through the white, then when we hit the yolk you can come in like a bread soldier and save the day!’ ‘Oh aah, like the cavalry you mean,’ Phil laughs.
By late afternoon the cellar has been completely cleared out. Looking at the inside wall (opposite Trench One outside) some sort of furnace or firing hole is clearly evident in the brickwork. Trench Four is opened inside the cellar to determine exactly what is going on. All four trenches are now well underway.
The dig's industrial archaeology specialist, Rob Kinchin Smith, is happy with how the work is going in Trench Four: ‘I think there’s definitely good evidence for a furnace here. In the wall that’s been uncovered you can see where the sandstone sides of the furnace would have been. From this angle we should find an anchoring point for the pipes from the bellows.’ ‘You mean under all this rubble on the cellar floor?’ says Katie Hirst, who’s been digging this trench. ‘Yes, I hope you don’t mind,’ says Rob. ‘Actually it’s quite nice in this cellar,’ says Katie.
Trench One has been extended so that it now measures three metres by four metres. Trenches Two and Three remain at their original size of two metres by three metres. All of them continue to get deeper, but finds have been few and far between (apart from what appears to be a massive furnace!). The first three trenches have mainly produced levelling material such as rubble, grit and gravel. It is hoped that tomorrow the excavations can proceed at full speed, the material used for levelling the car park can be removed and the real archaeology begin to be uncovered.
