The last week of an excavation always brings a sense of urgency to a site. At Beamore, we are on target with the cuttings almost completely excavated and so recording and survey is becoming the priority. Matt recorded the section face and pit in Cutting K. We know think that this pit is prehistoric and is one of an arc of four pits (three were excavated last year) that form a pit circle about 25m in diameter. We have been finding worked flint on the site and now we may have a context for them. Part of Muireann’s lovely cobbling in the ditch cutting was sacrificed in search of where another of the pits is likely to be located. We will know more tomorrow. John reached the bottom of the ditch today (hurrah!) and found pottery and worked wood on the way. Morris, our newest volunteer, is wet sieving the ditch fill deposits and finding lots of bone. Laura and her team are excavating the base of a wall or buttress that appears to have been a later addition to the farm building. Despite chronic wet conditions in the tower Craig has heroically come down on the floor of the latrine. This has a rounded profile. We had lots of visitor in the afternoon including old friends Matt Lambert, Brian Rogers, Nicky Mallon and Maureen Finn. Animal bone specialist Arlene Coogan had a quick look at our animal bones and identified pig, sheep/goat, cattle, cat and poultry. Unfortunately, we were to busy to photograph our many welcome visitors.
The tower latrine when nearly completely emptied. Craig is barely visible behind all the protective gear. With Lennon and Alex, the tower team is to be congratulated for this feat of perseverance.
The empty latrine culvert!
Craig is not just a tireless digger, he also carries out research for the team and found this model of medieval monastic water management prepared by C. James Bond. We have found many of the features shown in this diagram at Beaubec and the illustration suggests what might lie waiting for us to discover (mill, fish ponds, etc.), After: C. James Bond, ‘Water Management in the Rural Monastery’, in Roberta Gilchrist and Harold Mytum (eds), The archaeology of rural monasteries, BAR British Series 203 (Oxford: B.A.R., 1989).
Following up on Craig’s research, we found the inspiration for some of Bond’s conclusions. This is the waterworks drawing from the Eadwine Psalter showing the elaborate water system at the priory of Christ Church Canterbury prior to 1174. Read more about this remarkable document at https://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/heritage/archives/picture-this/the-waterworks-drawing-from-the-eadwine-pslater/
Detail from the waterworks drawing from the Eadwine Psalter showing the water flowing through the Nesessarium, just as it does at Beaubec.
Beaubec Excavations 