The weather on Day One was
anything but helpful!
Time Team have dug at some of Britain's most famous buildings, but Westminster Abbey must be the grandest of them all.
Largely built by Henry III in the 13th century, the Abbey is a centrepiece of British history and was the burial place of royalty for 500 years.
Mick Aston may not be the biggest fan of London, but even he couldn't resist the opportunity to work here!
Our goal over the three days was to relocate the lost medieval sacristy of Henry III. This would have housed the many treasures of the Abbey and its location was a mystery.
The site may have been special but the weather on Day One morning was anything but... John Gater and the geophysics team undertook a very soggy survey to produce the first set of results.
Modern pipes and cables lent the Abbey grounds the appearance of a snakes and ladders board but deeper levels showed a series of walls that could be medieval.
We didn't only have geophysics to hand, there was also a wealth of historical documents in the Abbey library that mentioned the sacristy. These included a 19th century plan showing its possible location. Unfortunately, as we've discovered before on Time Team, historical plans are not always what they seem. These had been made by Sir Gilbert Scott during excavations to build a cellar in 1869. Had he correctly interpreted the archaeology - and did any of the walls even survive?
Phil and Jackie uncover an
11th century burial
As soon as the trenches started to go in walls began to emerge. Phil had the difficult job of working out which of the walls were Victorian and which, if any, were medieval. With centuries of building and rebuilding on this small area it was an 800-year-old 3 dimensional jigsaw puzzle.
Gradually, medieval walls were uncovered and, like a 13th century game of join-the-dots, the layout of the building was revealed. But was it the sacristy? Mick wasn't happy, and it wasn't just because he was in London. The plan didn't look like it was supposed to- our sacristy looked more like a corridor than a vault for the Abbey's treasures.
It wasn't until the discovery of a processional doorway inside the Abbey that the riddle was solved. Instead of a treasury, this sacristy acted as a medieval dressing room.
At last Mick was convinced we had uncovered what we were looking for, it just wasn't what anyone had expected. We had found a building that no-one was supposed to see; a part of the Abbey that was strictly behind the scenes. From here, processions could emerge miraculously to take part in the glorious services inside the Abbey.
From above, the maze of walls
starts to make sense
The sacristy wasn't the only thing to come to light - several burials emerged across the site. One in particular had the Team very excited. It was chalk-lined and didn't align with the existing Abbey. This suggested it could pre-date the building created by Henry III - it might even be Anglo Saxon.
Could we have stumbled across the first solid evidence of the Anglo Saxon monastery founded here by St Dunstan?
The Team did their best to date the burial on site, but for a conclusive answer we had to wait another six weeks as scientists in Belfast dated the bones. The result was dated as early 11th century, which meant the body could have been laid to rest when the Anglo Saxon monastery was still standing. This would have been hundreds of years before the building we see today was built.
Everyone involved knew this would be three days to remember, but Westminster still exceeded all expectations. We had set out to find a 13th century sacristy and ended up with far more than we bargained for. Not only had we found the lost sacristy but we also had evidence of the Anglo Saxon origins of Westminster.
Click here for a behind-the-scenes account of the dig, or view the bonus clips here.
