1.00pm 27th August 2006

Geophysics surveyor
The digging has been progressing apace in the Upper Ward this morning, with further two trenches opened in addition to the one that found the robbed-out wall of Edward III's Round Table building last night.
There is now 'not a shadow of doubt that we have found the building', says geophysics surveyor Chris Gaffney. And what a building it must have been. The 'robber trench' where its foundations once stood, two metres below the present-day surface, is about 2.5 metres wide – more than big enough to have supported a huge structure. It has been infilled with all manner of building rubble, but amidst all the debris two fragments of 14th-century pottery provide possible dating evidence from the right period. One is a piece of Surrey white ware, the other is shell tempered ware. Both are everyday pieces of pot made locally.
Other finds in the Upper Ward include some of the 80,000 tiles that were used in the construction of the Round Table building, according to contemporary sources. And in one of the trenches excavated today, two brick-built culverts have been revealed, probably dating from the refurbishment of the castle during Victoria's reign. Neither of these were previously known in any maps or plans of the castle, and although they were not what Time Team was looking for, their identification has added to our limited knowledge of this most private precinct.
Brian Kerr, the representative of English Heritage who is overseeing everything Time Team does at Windsor, is pleased with the discoveries – as, of course, is Chris Gaffney. I've been speaking to him in detail about the use of 'geophys' in the search for the Round Table building and will be reporting here on that later this afternoon. We'll also be bringing you an animation showing the detailed ground penetrating radar results.
10.30am 27th August 2006

Tom Ranson, a researcher, is helping to produce six hours of live programming of the Big Royal Dig each day for More4.
'Yesterday was crazy. Filming live for this amount of time is manic, and you have to react really, really quickly. Some of the time we set up features to film, such as interviews with palace staff. But often we're just running around, hoping to catch the best action as it unfolds.
'One of my best moments today came in the Upper Ward. I was talking to Richard Brown, the site supervisor, just after they felt that they had discovered the Round Table. Okay, I wasn't there for the discovery, but when it was verified by Chris Gaffney, the geophysicist, you could really feel the excitement.
'In the Lower Ward it was fun listening to the archaeologists debate the location of the Great Hall with the historian, Professor David Carpenter. Everyone had an opinion and that included me!
'We also had some fun with some schoolchildren who spent the day with us as young archaeologists. They seemed pretty happy to get on camera during a question and answer session with one of our expert archaeologists.
'However, the highlight of the day was definitely going to bed... far too late!'
9.30am 27th August 2006

There is no truth in the rumour that some Time Team crew members have been told to start looking for jobs as gargoyles at Windsor when the Big Royal Dig is over. But there's no certainly no leeway being given on this fine Sunday morning to anyone who's nursing a sore head from the night before. Part of the circular perimeter of Edward III's Round Table building (or at any rate the robbed-out trench where it once stood) may have been found late on yesterday in the Upper Ward, and progress been made towards locating Henry II's Great Hall in the Lower Ward. But there is a lot more still to be done and this promises to be the busiest day of all, for the diggers in particular.
Hopefully no one is feeling – or looking – quite as rough as the many scores of gargoyles to be found on Windsor's various buildings, most notably St George's Chapel. It hasn't stopped some of the crew making comparisons, though, not least because the word 'gargoyle' is derived from the Latin 'gurgulio', which means both 'throat' and the gurgling sound made by running water (or, indeed, beer).
There's an unofficial competition going on here among some of those present to see which gargoyle is most like which crew member. So which members of Time Team do you think bear the closest resemblance to these peculiar stone characters?
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