Not much to report today, as we continue to gradually peel away the layers of post-palace demolition rubble and landscaping deposits.

We removed the coarse rubble 'tumble' from both trenches 1 and 2 to reveal the pebble-rich layer beneath.

As with yesterday, progress in Trench 2 is slightly ahead of Trench 1 and we were able to record and begin removing the pebble deposit, which has come down at the east end of Trench 2 onto a layer of fairly uniform brickearth.

Although this is not quite what we expected, early indications suggest this deposit might not be very deep and may have yet more rubble (and hopefully structure!) beneath it.

Meanwhile similar work continued in Trench 1 removing the pebble-rich layer and eventually revealed a widespread deposit of much less coarse and quite mortar-rich rubble.

It will probably be another day or two before we get through these post-palace layers, but the signs are good for an underlying structure.

Please Note

The future of research at Elsyng is under threat: Please read here for more details.

The borough of Enfield are threatening to destroy the 20 year programme of two week research excavations at Elsyng Palace in the grounds of Forty Hall by charging all who volunteer £10 a day to park in the car park there (that would be £140 per volunteer). This would make any excavations impossible and might even threaten the existence of the EAS as this site is so central to what we do. Given just how much we continue to contribute to Enfield by undertaking archaeological projects across the borough for free or at hugely less than commercial providers would charge this can only be described as a stab in the back, yet they refuse point blank to even talk to us about it.

We must fight this or this year’s excavations just started and this year’s open day (this Saturday) will be the last, all our schools outreach work will stop and community archaeology in Enfield will be dead. So please visit https://letstalk.enfield.gov.uk/fortyhall-carpark to see the proposals and object to them by e-mail to forty.hall@enfield.gov.uk before 20th July quoting reference TG52/1589B. However, we fear that only holding the political leaders of the council to account will achieve results so please also e-mail the leader of the council, Cllr. Ergin Erbil (Cllr.Ergin.Erbil@Enfield.gov.uk), and ask him why he is trying to destroy community archaeology in Enfield and why the borough will not even talk to community groups about their proposals.

Excavation continued today, on day two of our two-week exploration of the inner gatehouse of Elsyng palace.

We finished removing topsoil in both trenches to reveal a coarse rubble deposit that had started to appear yesterday, and at first seemed to form a line across Trench 1, possibly continuing in Trench 2.

We began to speculate whether this rubble may represent the 'tumble' of a demolished wall, especially given that its apparent line would run roughly paralell with the wall with integral columns we excavated nearby in 2023 (see day 1 for diagram) - and so could be the first signs of a back edge to our gatehouse building.

Early in the afternoon, once it was recorded, we began removing the rubble from Trench 2, only to find a layer of pebbles beneath it.

Progress in Trench 1 is slightly behind Trench 2, but early indications are that it follows the same sequence, i.e. the 'tumble' is overlaying a gravel deposit and not directly over a wall line. As work continued in Trench 2, it began to show a second rubble layer beneath the pebbles, which is a pattern we have seen before at Elsyng; i.e. more than one demolition phase, separated by a period of pebble landscaping.

Assuming Trench 1 follows the same pattern we can therefore expect to remove the rubble to reveal the pebble deposit tomorrow before moving on to an underlying second rubble context, which in turn will hopefully reveal the actual surviving palace structure beneath.

There are one or two interestingly shaped bricks in amongst the rubble especially in Trench 1, including parts of window mullion, a complete corbel and various chamfered bricks, but the best find of the day was an almost complete lozenge-shaped polychrome English Delft tile.

It is one of the largest intact Delft tile pieces ever found at Elsyng and evidently part of an elaborate set of tiles that would have once graced a high status room within the palace.

We hope that the complete design will be identifiable and should be closely dateable - we suspect that this is an example from the Pickleherring Pottery that operated in Southwark for most of the seventeenth century.

We made a good start today on the first day of our annual two-week exploration of Henry VIII's Elsyng Palace. as previously explained we're opening two trenches on the interior of the palace's inner gatehouse, in order to better understand its interior layout and footprint.

Trench 1, a large square trench, has been laid out behind the line of a long thin wall we first saw in 2023, which has integral octagonal columns and we think may be the front of an open colonnade or loggia like structure. We hope that this trench will reveal evidence of the building's internal rooms and perhaps locate its back edge.

Trench 2 has been laid out very nearby to get as close as tree roots will allow us to a number of wall lines seen in previous trenches, particularly a complex junction of multiple walls seen in 2024 (see linked diagram above).

We're still in the topsoil removal phase at the moment so there's nothing much to report yet, although we are already coming on to the ubiquitous layer of post-palace deomolition rubble in both trenches. It is perhaps notable that the rubble is very coarse and in some places may possibly form a rough alignnment, but whether this is coincidence or a sign of intact structure below, time will tell.

Please note that the summer dig in Forty Hall on the site of Elsyng Palace is now fully booked and new membership applications will not be processed until July 21st at the earliest.

We will be digging in the lime tree avenue in Forty Hall from July 6th to 20th, investigating the interior of the inner gatehouse of the Tudor palace, continuing the highly successful past two years' exploration of the extremely well preserved 16th century (and earlier) structures.

Our first two trenches will be targeting the interior of the building, focusing first on the inside of what we think may be an ornamental loggia at the gatehouse's west end, and secondly getting as close as tree root coverage will allow us to a complex multi-phased wall junction close to the second of the two octagonal turrets we have found on the gatehouse's southern facade.

A secondary objective of the dig will be to attempt to relocate the complex of walls that were first excvated on the site by the EAS in 1963-66. The 1960s digs in Forty Hall were the first to rediscover the palace, uncovering an immaculately preserved complex of walls, vaulted drains and other features, the foundations in some cases extending up to two metres below ground.

Although we know approximately where the digs took place, surveying technology in 1963 was not quite what it is today (nor were archive practices!) and so precisely pinning down the location of the various structural elements is crucial to our understanding of the site, not least becuase we suspect that last year's dig came within about five metres of the sixties work.

Trench three is therefore planned to be laid out to the north east of trenches one and two to hopefully intercept the line of one of the most shallowly buried walls that was found in 1965. Since the wall was found only inches under turf level it should hopefully be quick to confirm (or not!) its location.

There will be a public open day on Saturday July 12th with exhibits of recent finds, activities for children and archaeologists on hand to answer questions. We look forward to seeing you there!