The Island of the Eels
Digging deep into old Ely

17 May 2001
Repeated 29 April 2002

Finds and photo gallery

Click on the thumbnail to reveal a larger image.

Ely panorama

Ely trenches

Fisheye from the viewing platform

At 180 x 25 metres, the excavation at Ely covered an area 50 times bigger than the typical Time Team dig – and every part of it had to be meticulously recorded.

For the latter half of the excavation there was barely a dry day, turning the dig into a battle against the water and the mud.

An extension of a few weeks was agreed to enable the diggers to get down to the early Saxon layers of the site fronting Broad Street (Zone A). The second picture shows one of the huge post holes from a later aisled hall that stood here.

The medieval kiln from Zone B of the excavation site. It had been built on top of huge quantities of pottery waste.

The excavation of the kiln area produced no fewer than 63 bags full of pottery pieces, all of which had to be cleaned, examined and recorded.

Illustrator Victor Ambrus's impression of how the kiln would have looked at
the time of its construction.

Victor sketching at Ely

Mary Alexander and Mick

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