7.00pm 28th August 2006

Round Table
reconstruction

Conclusions: Upper Ward
England's earliest theatre?

As if the discovery of the foundations of the mysterious Round Table building erected by Edward III at Windsor Castle in 1344 wasn't significant enough in itself, Time Team's experts have used the documentary and archaeological evidence to come up with a thrilling conclusion to the weekend's investigations. Based on what they have discovered, they believe that the Round Table building may have been England's earliest known theatre – 250 years before Shakespeare.

As Richard Barber explained here previously (see Saturday 4.30pm), Round Tables were not just physical objects, but a kind of festival at which knights jousted with each other, feasted and danced. They also involved theatrical performances, in which knights and ladies acted out scenes from the stories of King Arthur and his knights and dressed up as Lancelot, Guinevere and other characters. The enthusiasm for these re-enactments had begun a century earlier, and by the time of Edward's festival in 1344 there was a long tradition of such events, which had become increasingly elaborate.

Only the foundation trench of the Round Table building survives, but we can deduce what it was like from the detailed building accounts in the National Archives. These list the materials and wages of the men working on it. We also have an eyewitness account of the festival, and we know from both the documentary and archaeological evidence that the building was 200 feet in diameter – bigger than the Pantheon in Rome.

From all this evidence we can now make a good shot at reconstructing the 'house of the Round Table', as the accounts refer to it.

It was an elaborately decorated stone building with a single arcade inside, rather like a cloister, perhaps 10 metres high. The 300 knights of the Order of the Round Table would have sat on a stone bench against the wall, with a stone table in front, under a roof supported on pillars. The open central area would have had a fountain in the middle, and around it the dramas of the Arthurian stories were re-enacted while the knights watched from their seats. Once the drama had been played out, the feasting would begin. The celebrations concluded with music and dancing, for which pavilions and arbours were set up in the central space.

The building and festivities were symbols of Edward's power and prestige – the message being that here was a king as chivalric and as great as Arthur himself. Edward intended to hold such festivals every year, but the ambitious building project was never finished. Instead, Edward called a halt to the building before it was roofed and spent the money on trying to conquer France.

Conclusions: Lower Ward
The Great Hall was here!

They left it late but the combined efforts of Time Team's experts – archaeologists, historians and diggers alike – have finally produced a definitive location for Henry II's Great Hall.

The crucial archaeological evidence was finally uncovered in Matt Williams's trench, which was opened right up against standing buildings on the site. Other trenches had yielded finds from the relevant period, along with large medieval walls associated with the chamber block of the Great Hall. But they had not managed to produce any trace of the walls of the Great Hall itself.

Matt's trench was opened to pursue Tim Tatton-Brown's revised theory that the hall was built along the castle curtain wall. What he found was the robbed-out remains of the hall's southern wall. Not only that, but he also uncovered the prepared clay surface of the hall's interior adjacent to the robbed-out wall. And following the line of that wall, a few metres further along it aligns precisely with a standing wall incorporated into an existing building. It seems that one, at least, of the walls of Henry's Great Hall has been visible all along!

But how can we be sure that this wall is the real thing and not part of another medieval structure? 'This,' says historian Professor David Carpenter, 'is where the documents rescue archaeology'.

The principal documentary evidence, in brief, consists of:

• A 1412 letter stating that the 'old hall' was beside the 'mansion' (interpreted as the cloisters) of the canons, which would fit exactly with the hall running westwards from there along the castle wall.
• A 1331 survey showing that the hall ran east-west.
• In 1240, Henry III ordered a chamber block and chapel built along the castle wall. This makes it very likely that the hall was also along the wall, and would allow it to be 100 feet long.
• If the hall lay beside the castle wall, this would fit in with it being damaged in the 1216 siege of Windsor under King John, and thus needing rebuilding in 1223.

The Lower Ward investigations might not have yielded a definitive result as speedily as those in the Upper Ward, but they still turned up trumps in the end. A right royal achievement for everyone concerned!

And it's still standing!
It's all action here as the archaeologists and other experts try to pull everything together in time for tonight's programme. There are people recording the archaeology as others are finishing the digging and tidying up the trenches. There are experts running around all over the place, dodging the camera crews and skipping over the many miles of cable.

And the hot news is that we have found one of the walls of Henry II's Great Hall – and what's more it's still standing! More of that in the final blog of the weekend, but here in the picture you can see it for yourself. Together with the excavations that have continued today, that means that our experts can finally put together a definitive assessment of where Windsor's first palace actually stood.

In the Upper Ward, meanwhile, where Time Team has located Edward III's Round Table building, everyone is preparing for a sumptuous medieval feast. You can see illustrator Jill Atherton's version of what the real thing would have looked like in Edward III's day in our gallery. It's all happening at Windsor!

Meet the team
Every archaeological dig worth its salt these days makes use of metal detectorists. Although irresponsible, unregulated metal detecting is the bane of our archaeological heritage, its responsible use is now an integral part of any serious archaeological investigation.

Here at Windsor, ex-policeman Bill Meadsgallery.

Bill took up metal detecting as a hobby ten years ago. His first detecting on an archaeological site was during an excavation of Roman remains, while his favourite find was made at Broadwater Farm, Walton. This was a small, thin piece of bronze with an engraved design on it. He took it to his local finds liaison officer under the Portable Antiquities Scheme (set up to encourage metal detectorists and other members of the public to report finds that might be of archaeological interest), who identified it as part of a 6th-century brass plate for a horse's cheek. It is now in Weybridge Museum.

Henry II's Great Hall is found?
The search for Henry II's Great Hall is hotting up in the Lower Ward, with a new trench being opened right up against the wall of one of the existing buildings. A trench opened yesterday against one of these buildings has uncovered what the archaeologists think could be the remains of a robbed-out wall from the Great Hall, and the new trench is being dug to see if they can find more of it.

Mick Worthington's dendrochronology (tree ring dating) results are in from timber samples taken from these buildings. It was hoped that the timbers might indicate surviving parts of the Great Hall incorporated in the later buildings, but Mick's results have given a date for the timbers of between 1485–1493.

Despite this, new documentary evidence has come to light that supports the theory that the hall was built up against the castle curtain wall. You can almost touch the excitement here!

'It really is a major, nationally important discovery.'
The flagstone surface in one of the Upper Ward trenches mentioned earlier is actually the base of a statue of Charles II before it was moved off the Queen's ceremonial lawn to a new location in the Upper Ward. And the 14th-century tile found apparently in situ last night turns out probably to be a stray tile similar to others used elsewhere at Windsor that became attached to mortar in the statue's base. It is contemporary with Edward III's Round Table building, however, even if it now seems unlikely that it was actually part of that building.

The reassessment of the tile doesn't change the overall interpretation of the excavations, though. Both the Upper Ward site director, Julian Munby, and historian Dr Richard Barber are very keen to stress the national archaeological importance of the Round Table building's discovery. 'This isn't just hype for television,' says Julian Munby. 'It really is a major, nationally important discovery.'

'It's truly exciting and I think this will go down in history books,' says Richard Barber. 'The location of this building has always been such a mystery, and whilst we might not have all the definitive answers yet, this really is the Round Table building!'

'The other really interesting thing for me over the last couple of days has been the chance to get together with Julian Munby and Tim Tatton-Brown,' Richard adds. 'We have discussed what we thought the building was made of.

'Julian explained that the building accounts reveal that the type of stone mainly used was really only suitable for carving. They also show that there were far more carvers than ordinary masons working on it. A new picture is now emerging, and we can say quite confidently that the Round Table was highly decorated. That also means that we're looking hard at the question of what the building might have been used for.'

The experts have some very exciting conclusions about the building's purpose, more of which will be revealed here later.

English Heritage verdict is in...
English Heritage has made its decision about whether or not to let Time Team open additional trenches at Windsor. In the Upper Ward, the answer is no, so the archaeologists will have to make do with the trenches that have already been approved. They have decided to focus on the one that uncovered the 'robbed out' wall of Edward III's Round Table building in the hope that they can find further evidence of the interior floor surface. They are particularly keen to tie this in definitively to the floor surfaces found elsewhere in the Upper Ward excavations – particularly the tile discovered last night and a flagstone surface that has been revealed today.

In the Lower Ward, permission has been given for a further trench, which will be opened this afternoon. Meanwhile, finds expert Faye Simpson is cleaning up and trying to identify various pottery and tile fragments found on this site.

One particularly impressive piece of pottery from the Lower Ward (see photo, larger version available in the Finds gallery), which has just been found, has already been identified as part of the rim of a large storage jar dating from the 17th or 18th century. The design around the rim consists of thumbprints that would have been made by the potter while the clay was still wet.

A profile of Illustrator Jill Atherton
Illustrator Jill Atherton is one of the many people who've been working away behind the scenes this weekend to provide us with impressions of how Windsor Castle would have looked at different periods during its history. You can soon see her drawings of the castle during the reigns of Henry II, Henry III and Edward III, all of whom carried out extensive building works, in the photo gallery.

Jill says she has been drawing 'literally since I was old enough to hold a pencil'. 'I always sat by the window at school so that I could draw and I've carried on ever since,' she adds.

Her first work in archaeology was recording a Roman dig in Cirencester in 1974. She has worked on above-ground recording since 1977, including the mammoth task of surveying by hand the whole of Chichester Cathedral on a 1:20 scale. Carried out in conjunction with the cathedral restoration, Jill started this started in 1989. 'I can at last see light at the end of the tunnel,' she says. 'I'm currently finishing the east end, after which I will have done the entire building stone by stone.'

This is Jill's first work for Time Team, although she has previously worked in television for the BBC. Like Time Team regular, illustrator Victor Ambrus, she does all her drawing by hand. 'I don't even know how to use a computer,' she says.

Rain, rain, go away...
The weather has been kind to us over the weekend so far, with most of the rain occurring overnight. But this morning our luck has broken. As local TV weather presenter Joanne Malin would have put it, it's p****** down!

I bump into Lower Ward site supervisor Kevin Blockley as we shelter in the catering gazebo. This fragile, plastic framed structure is caught in a wind trap on the castle battlements overlooking the high street, and we're taking bets on how long it will last before a strong gust of wind blows it away entirely.

Kevin has just finishing cleaning up the Lower Ward trenches after the overnight rain and now they're filling up with muddy slush all over again. 'They should be okay,' he says, 'as long as it's only showers.'

In fact, rain is not always a pain for archaeologists. Often it can help to make features more easily distinguishable, particularly when you are looking subtle gradations in colour and texture. Try telling that to the diggers, though – and still less to the camera and sound crews and technicians – as they try to get their jobs done at the same time as being soaked to the skin...

Between the downpours, the Lower Ward diggers have found some odd tile fragments and pottery sherds that may be related to the Great Hall. And there's some new documentary evidence that might tell us more about precisely where the hall was situated. We'll be updating you on that later.

Upper Ward floor tiles reconstruction
Time Team's 2D graphics person at Windsor, Maya Gavin, has produced an impression of how the floor tiles found at the Upper Ward would have looked in position. You can see these in detail in the photo gallery.

Exciting finds in the Upper Ward
The diggers are raring to go today, particularly after last night's discoveries in the Upper Ward. The undoubted highlight, as shown on television, was the discovery of a complete decorated medieval floor tile (see photo) still in situ with the mortar holding it in place.

Since the cameras finished filming yesterday, another partial tile in a similar design has also been uncovered in the same trench. And nearby, also in the same trench, a medieval flagstone surface is currently being revealed, with the flagstones still in place.

With discussions going ahead about the possibility of extending the trenches in the Upper Ward, it promises to be another thrilling day.

Round-up
After last night's excitement over the discovery of Edward III's Round Table building
The discoveries here have been so dramatic that the archaeologists are even attempting to persuade English Heritage to let them put in another trench in addition to the four that were agreed in advance. We'll know the outcome of those negotiations tomorrow. One of the questions that they are hoping that a further trench would help them to resolve is whether or not the Round Table would have had a roof. Certainly the walls – some 2.5 metres in width – could easily have supported a roof, but there would also have needed to be supporting timbers too: can the excavations find any post holes?

In the Lower Ward, the archaeologists have been pushing as close as they can get to the existing buildings as they continue their search for the line of the walls of Henry II's Great Hall. Unlike their colleagues in the Upper Ward, they may not yet have produced a definitive result but Time Team's expert, Tim Tatton-Brown, remains confident that they will do so before the end of play tomorrow.

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Mick 'the Dig' Worthington
Time Team fans with a longish memory will remember Mick 'the Dig' Worthington, who was one of the team's regular diggers for the first eight series. Mick's digging days came to an end in 2001, however, as a result of problems with his knees, which doctors told him couldn't sustain a life in the trenches.

Since then, Mick has continued to appear on Time Team occasionally in his new capacity as Mick the Twig – working as a dendrochronologist, investigating old timbers by means of tree-ring dating. He's at Windsor to try to date some of the timbers in the castle as part of the search for evidence of Henry II's Great Hall, and he's been taking samples for this purpose this afternoon in the Lower Ward. We should know the results tomorrow.

Second Lower Ward trench is opened
Another trench has been opened in the Lower Ward as the diggers continue their search for the elusive walls of Henry II's Great Hall. The existing trenches have uncovered walls from the chamber block connected with the hall, but so far not the hall itself. This new trench is just about as close as you can get to the existing buildings alongside the castle's curtain wall without disturbing the buildings themselves, and Time Team regular digger Matt Williams feels sure that the chalky deposits he's coming down on are connected with the hall.

This trench has also produced two significant pottery finds. The first is a large sherd of a 14th-century Surrey whiteware bowl with fine green glaze. Finds expert Faye Simpson says it would have been 'a very posh bowl that would have sat right in the middle of the table' – and the finds accompanying it include oyster shells that might once have been served in this very bowl. The second pottery find here is a floor tile with brown-green glaze – not so posh, perhaps, but still impressive.

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