Let the games begin!

This morning John Mc Cullen cut the ceremonial sod at Beaubec on a beautiful summers day in the company of his family. And so the games begin! Great to see some of the old crew and new faces including little Wes our mascot dog. Once the health and safety guidelines were signed off we were able to start taking off the sod from two cuttings A (Abbey Road) and B (Beatles For Sale), which was completed by lunchtime. We are coming down on a very stony layer, which is the surface of a post medieval avenue and is producing lots of post-medieval pottery. There was great excitement in Cutting B when Tom found a Victorian penny (1901). In the afternoon Craig, Laura and Shauna started to uncover an intriguing, drain-like feature with some vitrified bricks. These are probably clinker bricks produced when wet clay bricks are exposed to excessive heat during the firing process, forming a shiny dark coloured coating. These usually date from the early  20^th century.  Locals Barney and Andy were the first of our welcome visitors

Also, thanks to Billy Sines, we now have a ‘Twitter handle’. Our handle is @BeaubecE (https://twitter.com/BeaubecE?s=17)

John McCullen gave a brief speech about Beaubec before turning the first sod.

Full attention for the opening ceremonies. John’s son Colm (second from left) also welcomed us to the field.

John turns the first sod!

As Mao used to say ‘put down the luggage and start the machinery’.

Peter Lacey (right) displays our first find. A small sherd of blackware. Craig Downie looks on with pride.

Tomás Ó hOistín shows Dermot (John McCullen’s son) his new discovery: a Victoria penny from 1901.

Laura, Shauna and Craig in cutting B(eatles for sale)

The sods in cutting B(eatles for sale) were stripped away before lunch!

Brendan Walsh is a graduate of the School of History and Geography, DCU. He proudly sports the DCU shirt while helping out in cutting A(bbey Road). Be true to your school Brendan.

This lovely dog lives besides a beautiful cottage on the grounds of Beamore house where site environmentalist, Penny Johnston, is staying.

Joanna Leigh on the site marking out the features identified in her geophysical survey.