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Flags within officer's quarters numbered and removed in case they are needed for consolidation. At the west end of the east-west partition, the impressions of the missing facing stones were located in the clay of the construction trench. Just south of the south-east corner of the building a posthole cut into the dark deposits associated with the tumble was located. The natural slopes up to the west, until in the vicinity of the wall, it is much the same height as the posthole. Beneath the via vicinaria surface exposed, there is at least one more good cobbled surface, the top of which is marked by deposits of decayed bone. Restudy of the available sections against the east wall, prior to disengagement, showed a post-construction, pre-demolition, cut to have removed the relationship between the road surface and the wall and any sign of a construction trench. Disengagement showed part of the east wall at the north end to be founded on large boulders again. A range of features came to light in the eastern tunnel, including possible remnants of walling, but as yet nothing totally convincing. More rubble was removed at the south end of this tent.
Stratigraphy of the deposits around the east wall of the building now seems clear. The natural clay appears to slope down from west to east and then begun to slope up again. Into this slope was cut a construction trench and the wall built up against the face of the clay, trapping twigs within it (ie the wood already sampled). The bottom of the dip behind the wall was thus made up.
On the outside face of the wall,* after construction but before demolition, a cut was dug down to the wall, presumably to receive the gutter blocks, none of which have so far been found in situ. Two pits were examined on the west side of the house, one medieval and one modern. The west-east partition wall continues westwards from the north south partition for some considerable distance, suggesting that it originally divided the building in two. The clay upon which the lowest course of this wall sits overlies up to three levels of flagging, the lowest of which covered the drain. By the south east corner of the building, the material associated with the tumble overlay the lowest road level and a north-south line of cobbles that may represent a foundation for the men's quarters. To the east, a large rubble-filled pit was identified beneath the shelter.
*The coursing of the wall is arranged so that one course diminishes and finally disappears as it progresses northwards.
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Morning spent cleaning up officer's quarters ready for photograph. Since the discovery of the continuation of the east-west partition, it is possible that the late north-south partition in the south half of the building was designed to butt it. Sondage through cobbles of road revealed features cut into the natural, including another stone-packed post-hole. In the tent on the east side, pottery showed the large stone-filled pit to be medieval. Disengagement of northern part of east wall of building completed and elevation drawing begun. Underneath tumble material, immediately south of the south-east corner of the building, there was yellow occupation or floor surfaces associated with a rubble-filled trench, possibly a rob.
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Floor removed in north-east room of building, showing that it rested directly on the drain slab, the drain running north-south as far as the partition.
Floor lifted in north room to reveal a dump of dressed stone in a pit or some sort of depression. The drain slabs run south to the east-west partition where the drain appears to turn once it has passed under the wall. A post hole appeared by the south-east corner of the officer's quarters: could this be an indication of a timber barrack? On the east side, a Roman pit beneath the shelter was cleaned out. No sign of an east barrack has come to light, so it seems fairly certain that the road extended right across the site.
A row (north-south) of post-holes beneath the road appear to be cut into the natural and these may belong to a posthole-constructed building although an alternative interpretation seems attractive: this depends upon seeing the north-south depression as the ditch of an early fort and the post-holes as a palisade for a rampart; behind (ie to the east) of the postholes there is possible rampart material (sand, turves? etc). The fill of the 'ditch' explains the depression and the made ground in the centre of the site. Likewise, the dump of rubble in the north-east corner of the officer's quarters could be makeup for the flagged floor, put in to fill subsidence into the ditch. This would challenge Jones' assumption that he had found buildings of the timber fort, but if these are seen as belonging to a vicus, and one of his road ditches seen as a possible further defensive ditch for our 'fort', this could mean that the suggestion of the pottery evidence - that there is later first or early second century occupation on the site - is plausible.
Planing of west side under way, as was elevation drawing of east wall. Cleaning of finds from pit on east side revealed tile with stamp NV, presumably n(umerus) v(igilum). Cleaning of postholes on east side continued. South of stone building a series of stone-packed postholes associated with floor surfaces and hearths represent the timber barrack that went with our stone officer's quarters. Underneath the crosswall (EW) in the officer's quarters, cobbles ran under the clay beneath the stones. Once the flagged floor was lifted, a large dump of rubble (see yesterday) sat on the east side, with a line of cobbles running westwards from its north end (a slot of some kind?). Line of west foundation of building followed southwards - the line is not very straight and the foundations include orthostatic stones.
This page last updated May 1st 1997
