Jelly babies & pottery The 'jelly-baby-shaped' anomaly found in the bottom of Trench 2a at the end of the day yesterday has turned out to be a pit full of oysters and fragments of 15th-century pottery, primarily floor tiles, some splendidly patterned. Yet again, says expert Mark Horton, there is every likelihood that these came from Tyler Hill. Unfortunately all this is redeposited rubbish, possibly dumped when some of the friary buildings were pulled down in the late 16th or 17th century; thus we can't say where these tiles might have been in the friary. There's still no sign of the elusive chancel. The diggers were excited at the discovery of what they thought was another wall beneath the modern garden wall that bisects Trench 2. They hoped that this was one of the chancel walls. However, it now appears to be simply the foundations of the garden wall.
				Binnewith Island trench		Masonry
		Binnewith Island Binnewith Island is at last coming to life, with the opening of Trench 4. This small patch of land, surrounded by two branches of the River Stour, is usually left untouched as a nature conservation area, but Time Team got permission to mow it and do a geophysical survey of it. This at last revealed a few anomalies that have intrigued the experts. ^top Chronicles of Thomas of Eccleston The island is thought to be where the Franciscan friars lived shortly after their arrival at Canterbury in 1224. What we know about this comes primarily from the late 13th-century Chronicles of Thomas of Eccleston, an extract from which has been supplied by Time Team historian Robin Bush:
			These nine [friars] having then been charitably conveyed across to England …, on arriving at Canterbury sojourned for two days at the priory of the Holy Trinity. The four of them at once set off for London … The other five went to the Priests' Hospice [now the Canterbury Heritage Museum], where they remained until they found for themselves a dwelling. But very shortly after their arrival they were given a small chamber at the back of the schoolhouse, where from day to day they remained almost continuously shut up. But when the scholars had gone home in the evening the brethren went into the schoolhouse, and there made a fire and sat near it. And sometimes at the evening conference they would put on the fire a small pot in which were the dregs of beer, and they would dip a cup into the pot and drink in turn, each speaking meanwhile some word of edification.
		Digging deeper The geophys team led by John Gater has found some evidence beneath the soil, but what this evidence signifies is almost anyone's guess. It could be the remains of a simple stone chapel erected by the friars – when they had time between being 'shut up' and drinking! – or it could be what is left of an Elizabethan walkway. To find out will take some effort. According to Tim Tatton-Brown, the diggers will have to excavate down at least 2m (7ft). He says that, over the last 800 years or so, that depth of silt has been deposited on top of the land surface that the friars would have walked and built on. ^top The lions under the earth Trench 3 is proving extremely valuable. It contains another of Louise Millard's trenches, which has now been properly recorded and surveyed. About 2 metres at the north end of Trench 3 is some tantalising 'virgin territory', untouched by Millard, where the Time Team diggers still hope to find part of the nave wall.
		Best prize But the trench's best prize so far has been a single decorated tile found in the south (Millard) end. This shows two lions back to back and, says expert Mark Horton, is an exact match with ones found on Tyler Hill. He could also tell that the Trench 3 tile had been relaid: it would originally have been part of a set of four that, when put together, made a circle of eight lions. ^top
						Tile from Trench 3
		Hopes dashed The diggers in Trench 2b have been having a very quiet time of it, the most exciting moment so far being the unearthing of the foundations of 19th-century garden buildings. So when they hit a level of white chalk rubble, a tremor went through the site. As they scrapped away, the chalky white – which could theoretically be the foundations of one of the chancel walls – it appeared to be on the same alignment as the space between two of the piers on the crosswalk wall. However, their hopes were soon dashed. Peter Kendall and Mick Aston had a look and then conferred. They think the chalky rubble is stretching at too great an angle to make any sense in terms of the friary church, and so could have nothing to do with the chancel wall. ^top
				Medieval stone doorstep		Trench 5
		Mick speaks When asked what had been found of the friary church as of Sunday afternoon, Mick Aston thought hard, took a deep breath and admitted: 'Not a lot.' 'We've been able to locate some of Louise Millard's trenches, filled with lots of demolition rubbish resulting from the Dissolution and dating from the 1540s. There have been some interesting tiles and evidence of some of the changes – the addition of buttresses, for one thing – that the last lot of friars would have made to the friary. 'It's very hard to tell about walls with us digging such small holes,' continued Mick. 'But I can say that, from what evidence we have, there is no neat cloister plan – not in the excavations and not in the geophys. All we can say is that everything is vaguely rectangular. 'It's particularly disappointing that we haven't found either the north wall of the chancel or the south wall of the nave. This doesn't necessarily mean that we're in the wrong place – it could simply mean that the walls have been heavily robbed out. However, it's especially worrying that we've found no burials… 'The only real archaeological evidence we've got so far is the standing masonry of the crosswalk, and possibly the north wall of the nave – but we're only guessing about that. When they were laying out the school playground [just to the north of the Greyfriars trenches], a 'quality medieval wall' was uncovered and recorded.' As Mick delivered this gloomy news, a ray of hope came from the north-west corner of Trench 3 – no church wall but a definitely medieval stone doorstep. Plans are afoot to extend Trench 3 even further north, up to the limits of the field. ^top Looking for floors One thing that Mick Aston has to particularly get on with now is the opening of a trench right next to the doorway in the existing crosswalk wall. 'This is important because we will be able to see – against something we know once was part of the architecture of the church – where the floor level is. If it is well below the present surface, that will be excellent – we can then dig our trenches deeper trying to find more of the floor. However, if we find that there is no floor at all, at least we'll know to stop looking – someone else got there first!' ^top
		Yet more mysteries Amazingly quick work by the diggers has resulted in a new Trench 6 excavated to a depth of 0.5m. The causes of the two geophys anomalies were soon apparent – but produced yet more mysteries. The anomaly further to the north was hoped to be the south nave wall, but although it appears to be a wall, it's far too slight to be the main nave wall. So far, the other anomaly – the hoped-for cloister wall – is a very misshapen piece (or pieces) of flint of unknown purpose. Sue Ovenden of GSB Prospection says that, since the ground here is drier than expected, the velocity of the radar signal in the geophys survey would have been slightly faster than expected. As a result, the cause of the anomaly on the geophys plot – initially expected to be in the top 0.5m of the trench – might actually be a bit deeper. Digging continues… ^top Tim Taylor speaks 'We've been joining up the dots that were Louise Millard's excavations, so that we can get the complete picture of the site.' Watch movie clips of series producer Tim Taylor talking about how things are going at the halfway stage and hear his views on the problems of competing with live cricket. From the white cliffs of Dover to the white floor in Trench 1 Howard Jones is working on Trench 1, Greyfriars. Time Team Live have just been granted permission to extend the trench further than the 1970s dig. 'By extending the dig we are able to ascertain the precise construction of an east-west wall of a building which is later than the medieval friary.' Howard says of his interest in archaeology, 'I am an architect by profession, so buildings are really my thing. I have been involved in archaeology for 32 years now, and the great thing about being on the Time Team Live dig is that as an amateur this is a great opportunity to dig on a major scheduled monument. Archaeology is really about time travel, you can go back for thousands of years and you never, ever know what you might find at the end of your trowel.' ^top You can't keep a club member down ... One of the diggers in Trench 3 has provided the Time Team website with a complete stratigraphy of Trench 3 – in effect, the history of this particular piece of ground from when it was first altered by people to the time when the friars laid the last tile floor. From the bottom of the trench to the tile: 1 the sandy shingle of the original ground. 2 a clay deposit. 3 a crushed chalk base. 4 another clay deposit. 5 a dirt deposit – the original floor of the cloister. 6 a clay deposit into which the tiles were set, along with a cement mixture. 7 the tiles laid by the friars. And who was the digger who told us this? Steve Nicholson of Whitstable, a Time Team Club member who simply turned up on Friday, asked permission to help excavate and has been happily digging ever since! ^top Human 'bits' Jenni Butterworth's Trench 5 has not only located the floor level of the chancel (and there are a few pieces of stone flooring to prove it), but has also produced the only human remains found during Time Team Live. Added to the two finger bones, we now have a human rib and, says Jenni, 'some other human bits'. A warming thought The archaeologists on Binnewith Island have been keeping a low profile, but they may just come up with one of the most exciting discoveries of the dig. Time Team and Canterbury Archaeological Trust diggers have laboured to dig a trench 1.5m deep. They have removed all the garden features on top and then a vast amount of river silt to reach a cobbled surface. On top of this was a piece of pottery from the 15th or early 16th century, which very conveniently dates the cobbles to the time of the last friars. Beneath this was a chalky layer, which may have acted as a base for the cobbles. It is what is beneath that which is causing the most excitement: a feature that could be a much older hearth – perhaps the one that once warmed the original Franciscans? Best-laid plans? Trench 6 – remember? The one with the fabulous radar plot? – has turned out to be seriously frustrating. The small wall was actually a 5cm deep layer of pottery sherds – probably a 17th-century land drain. The other 'anomaly'? Well, it seems to have been a post pad: a hole filled with flints to support the post of an ephemeral structure such as a shed. However, they did find some nice 17th- and 18th-century pottery – Delft, slipware, etc. Under the trees, as the weather worsens, Carenza continues to dig deeper, urged on by Barney Sloane, who says he is 'rashly optimistic'! ^top