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Windsor Castle
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Upper Ward floor tile from Round Table excavation |
Graphic reconstruction of Round Table building |
14th century Kingston Surrey Ware fragment |
Targets:
Locate the original and first Palace built by Henry II and see how Henry III modified it and built the first Great Hall.
Explore the rich history of Windsor by poking around in peoples' roofs, in their houses, in belfries and secret passages.
Find the Windsor Round Table 'noble house' in the Upper Ward.
Locate the original and first Palace built by Henry II and see how Henry III modified it and built the first Great Hall.
Explore the rich history of Windsor by poking around in peoples' roofs, in their houses, in belfries and secret passages.
Find the Windsor Round Table 'noble house' in the Upper Ward.
Key Finds:
Kingston Surrey Ware Pot, Round Table foundations, Floor Tile from Round Table building.
Kingston Surrey Ware Pot, Round Table foundations, Floor Tile from Round Table building.
Overview:
In the Lower Ward the team struggled at first to find the foundations of the first Great Hall and the Royal Chamber comprising of the King's living quarters. Neighbouring houses, which incorporated elements of the original Great Hall, gave clear clues to its presence but finding the original 13th century walls was proving to be slightly less straightforward. It wasn't until the end of the long weekend that remains of the wall were found – a few metres away from their predicted location.
The Upper Ward was the focus for the search of King Edward 3rd's Round Table building. Geo-phys showed up some promising results prompting the team to dig the first trench along what was hopefully the curved edge of the building wall. Things weren't looking too positive until the very end of day one when the discovery of a robber trench - evidence that stones needed for the construction of a large wall were literally 'robbed' from the ground.
The appearance of shards of 14th Century pottery that tied in perfectly to the probable date of the Round Table building offered additional hope and when a patterned floor tile appeared things started to get really exciting. Despite the tight time frame experts were able to establish the exact location of the Round Table building, probably used as a performance space for the knights of King Edward.
In the Lower Ward the team struggled at first to find the foundations of the first Great Hall and the Royal Chamber comprising of the King's living quarters. Neighbouring houses, which incorporated elements of the original Great Hall, gave clear clues to its presence but finding the original 13th century walls was proving to be slightly less straightforward. It wasn't until the end of the long weekend that remains of the wall were found – a few metres away from their predicted location.
The Upper Ward was the focus for the search of King Edward 3rd's Round Table building. Geo-phys showed up some promising results prompting the team to dig the first trench along what was hopefully the curved edge of the building wall. Things weren't looking too positive until the very end of day one when the discovery of a robber trench - evidence that stones needed for the construction of a large wall were literally 'robbed' from the ground.
The appearance of shards of 14th Century pottery that tied in perfectly to the probable date of the Round Table building offered additional hope and when a patterned floor tile appeared things started to get really exciting. Despite the tight time frame experts were able to establish the exact location of the Round Table building, probably used as a performance space for the knights of King Edward.
Richard Brown, senior Project Manager from Oxford Archaeology and Site Excavation Director at Windsor Castle Upper Ward gives us the low-down on the dig from his perspective:
"Hopefully by now lustrous green grass has grown back on the in-filled trenches in the Upper Ward. Finds and environmental samples have been assessed and catalogued by specialists. The pottery dates support the on-site interpretations, petrological analysis (study of the worked stone) is being carried out in order to identify where fragments from the Round Table Building were quarried.
Work on analysis, further research and publication of the excavation is currently underway. Some new information has already come to light. On the plus side, Roman and prehistoric pottery and Roman building material from the lower deposits in the trenches adds some weight to the possibility that an earlier building was sited on the Castle site. On the minus side the 14th century Penn tile thought to be in-situ and part of the flooring of the Round Table Building is now clearly re-deposited (or rather re-adhered since it was found mortared on to a surface) and cannot be seen as evidence of the Round Table floor."
Richard Brown
Time Team Archaeological Consultant for Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace
Richard Barber, Julian Munby and Richard Brown are currently working on a book on the excavations and Edward III' Round Table which will be published on April 23rd – St George's day.
Here, Richard Brown offers us an in-sight to his role in the project.
1. For how long have people known of the existence of a Round Table building at Windsor?
I'm not sure knowledge of the building has ever really totally faded since its conception in 1344. The cost of its construction; the labour, the materials used and the programme of work are fairly well documented in contemporary accounts. What is extraordinary is that the location of the building was lost, and then over the centuries a 'missing' 200ft circular building within Windsor Castle has started to seem more like myth than fact. The case for the Round Table Building being in the Upper Ward is made with some certainty by W St John Hope in his authoritative 'Windsor Castle – An Architectural History' published in 1913 and has been more recently (and frequently) asserted by Julian Munby, my colleague at Oxford Archaeology.
2. How did you go about persuading the palace to let you dig up the ward?
The Royal Household were never anything less than totally positive and helpful throughout the process of setting up the excavations. The Upper Ward was originally declared out of bounds but when we explained the Round Table to our main contact in the Royal Household he could see it was an exciting proposition and eventually came back with a yes. However a "yes in principle" is just the starting point, five months of historical research and seven versions of five, 50 page Project Designs were produced and had to be approved by the Royal Household, College of St George and English Heritage just for the archaeological excavations (including Buckingham Palace).This didn't even include all the television production details (security, logistical, reinstatement arrangements etc).
3. Please explain some of the main challenges faced by you and your team in excavating the site.
For me the most challenging thing was not carrying out the excavation (five months of arrangements for 4 days of excavation means you are fairly well prepared!) but living with the possibility that after all that work, I could be standing looking at a trench on day one of a live excavation with millions of people watching with no archaeology in the trench and then wondering what on earth we were going to do now for four days. The trouble with archaeology is until you actually put a trench in, no matter how good your research is you can't be 100% certain you are going to find anything. My way of dealing with this challenge is really to try not to think about it too much.
4. What the most fascinating aspect of the dig for you personally?
It's possibly unfashionable for archaeologists to say so at the moment but I love working in Castles. Aside from the aesthetic beauty of the buildings, these monuments (particularly Royal ones) invariably have a great wealth of documentary and pictorial evidence to enhance the archaeological remains. When you start to unravel the myriad of historical tendrils that relate to the remains found in the excavations (from the accounts of plasterers and masons to the effect of huge political and social events such as the hundred years war and the black death and larger than life characters such as Edward III and Henry of Lancaster) the sense of history becomes almost tangible.
5. Where will your findings be documented? How can the public find out more?
A book by Julian Munby and Richard Barber and I will be published by Boydell and Brewer in April. I will be reporting on the excavation, Julian is analysing the building accounts (of the Roundtable and comparative structures) in order and Richard is hunting down more historical and literary sources and connections. Both Richard's and Julian's work is already throwing up some very interesting material, which it's too early to talk about now, but suffice it to say that Richard has cast his net as far as the Mediterranean in his search for the inspiration for the Round Table.
Anyone wishing to get hold of W St John Hope's Architectural History of Windsor Castle may be hard pressed to afford the £750 price tag that is the minimum that these two leather bound volumes go for (only 1,050 were ever published, by Royal commission) however the Berkshire Victoria County History is somewhat more available and contains a summarised version of Hope's work.
"Hopefully by now lustrous green grass has grown back on the in-filled trenches in the Upper Ward. Finds and environmental samples have been assessed and catalogued by specialists. The pottery dates support the on-site interpretations, petrological analysis (study of the worked stone) is being carried out in order to identify where fragments from the Round Table Building were quarried.
Work on analysis, further research and publication of the excavation is currently underway. Some new information has already come to light. On the plus side, Roman and prehistoric pottery and Roman building material from the lower deposits in the trenches adds some weight to the possibility that an earlier building was sited on the Castle site. On the minus side the 14th century Penn tile thought to be in-situ and part of the flooring of the Round Table Building is now clearly re-deposited (or rather re-adhered since it was found mortared on to a surface) and cannot be seen as evidence of the Round Table floor."
Richard Brown
Time Team Archaeological Consultant for Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace
Richard Barber, Julian Munby and Richard Brown are currently working on a book on the excavations and Edward III' Round Table which will be published on April 23rd – St George's day.
Here, Richard Brown offers us an in-sight to his role in the project.
1. For how long have people known of the existence of a Round Table building at Windsor?
I'm not sure knowledge of the building has ever really totally faded since its conception in 1344. The cost of its construction; the labour, the materials used and the programme of work are fairly well documented in contemporary accounts. What is extraordinary is that the location of the building was lost, and then over the centuries a 'missing' 200ft circular building within Windsor Castle has started to seem more like myth than fact. The case for the Round Table Building being in the Upper Ward is made with some certainty by W St John Hope in his authoritative 'Windsor Castle – An Architectural History' published in 1913 and has been more recently (and frequently) asserted by Julian Munby, my colleague at Oxford Archaeology.
2. How did you go about persuading the palace to let you dig up the ward?
The Royal Household were never anything less than totally positive and helpful throughout the process of setting up the excavations. The Upper Ward was originally declared out of bounds but when we explained the Round Table to our main contact in the Royal Household he could see it was an exciting proposition and eventually came back with a yes. However a "yes in principle" is just the starting point, five months of historical research and seven versions of five, 50 page Project Designs were produced and had to be approved by the Royal Household, College of St George and English Heritage just for the archaeological excavations (including Buckingham Palace).This didn't even include all the television production details (security, logistical, reinstatement arrangements etc).
3. Please explain some of the main challenges faced by you and your team in excavating the site.
For me the most challenging thing was not carrying out the excavation (five months of arrangements for 4 days of excavation means you are fairly well prepared!) but living with the possibility that after all that work, I could be standing looking at a trench on day one of a live excavation with millions of people watching with no archaeology in the trench and then wondering what on earth we were going to do now for four days. The trouble with archaeology is until you actually put a trench in, no matter how good your research is you can't be 100% certain you are going to find anything. My way of dealing with this challenge is really to try not to think about it too much.
4. What the most fascinating aspect of the dig for you personally?
It's possibly unfashionable for archaeologists to say so at the moment but I love working in Castles. Aside from the aesthetic beauty of the buildings, these monuments (particularly Royal ones) invariably have a great wealth of documentary and pictorial evidence to enhance the archaeological remains. When you start to unravel the myriad of historical tendrils that relate to the remains found in the excavations (from the accounts of plasterers and masons to the effect of huge political and social events such as the hundred years war and the black death and larger than life characters such as Edward III and Henry of Lancaster) the sense of history becomes almost tangible.
5. Where will your findings be documented? How can the public find out more?
A book by Julian Munby and Richard Barber and I will be published by Boydell and Brewer in April. I will be reporting on the excavation, Julian is analysing the building accounts (of the Roundtable and comparative structures) in order and Richard is hunting down more historical and literary sources and connections. Both Richard's and Julian's work is already throwing up some very interesting material, which it's too early to talk about now, but suffice it to say that Richard has cast his net as far as the Mediterranean in his search for the inspiration for the Round Table.
Anyone wishing to get hold of W St John Hope's Architectural History of Windsor Castle may be hard pressed to afford the £750 price tag that is the minimum that these two leather bound volumes go for (only 1,050 were ever published, by Royal commission) however the Berkshire Victoria County History is somewhat more available and contains a summarised version of Hope's work.
