Exploring the legacy of Ethelburga – a community project focused on the Anglo-Saxon heritage of Lyminge, a village in the Elham Valley in East Kent.
Readers of this blog over the summer will recall how we unexpectedly uncovered the remains of substantial walls due east of the War Memorial. At the time, these were interpreted as the remains of the Archbishops' residence or Aula, which was built in the 11th Century and at least partially demolished in the 14th Century. … Continue reading A view of the Archbishops’ residence
With the better weather this week, the work of back-filling the site is proceeding apace. The great spoil heaps have been reduced and they are being used to fill the area that was dug over the course of the summer. The type 3 aggregate sub-base for the new path has now been laid over the … Continue reading Back-filling continues
It was a warm day and for once we had excellent conditions for the site tour: no rain, no wind. We had some 85 visitors crowding the viewing platform, which was a great turn-out. From a straw poll, about half those attending were seeing the site for the first time. We started off looking at … Continue reading Day 42 – The last site tour
The last area of the Anglo-Saxon church to be explored is the area under the porch. We had contractors on site to lift the flagstones. Underneath the porch, as we suspected, the substructure is precarious to say the least and needs to be addressed before the flagstones are replaced. We have found the nave wall … Continue reading Day 40 – The last area of the Anglo-Saxon church uncovered
After all the publicity of yesterday, it was a busy day on site with upwards of 60 visitors throughout the day, many of them encouraged to come by the news report on the BBC News. It was also busy because the laser scanning of the church was in progress. This will allow us to produce … Continue reading Day 39 – A busy day on site
The BBC were on site in the morning recording for the South East News programme. We were initially scheduled to give a live broadcast on the lunchtime bulletin, but this was pulled at the last moment. The broadcast went out on the 6.30pm bulletin, available here on IPlayer but only until 7pm on 21 August. … Continue reading Day 38 – Media Day!
The wall discovered last week in the trench by the War Memorial has proved to be substantial. There is very little dating evidence coming out of the trench, but we are reasonably confident that this is a late medieval structure and it would explain the dumps of clay roof tile that we have found across … Continue reading Day 37 -Extending the War Memorial trench
We have now lifted the last of the burials that we intend to excavate in the chancel of the Anglo-Saxon church. We are now confident that burial did not start in this area until after the church was demolished, probably in the 13th Century. We are also confident that the odd 'niches' cut in the … Continue reading Day 35 -Exploring the loose ends
When we began to excavate burials within the chancel of the Anglo-Saxon church, we thought it was likely they were later medieval and not contemporary with the church itself. Up to now we have found no finds to give any kind of date. However, at last we have some pottery, from what appears to be … Continue reading Day 34 – Confirmation of some earlier speculation
The trench in the New Churchyard east of the War Memorial continues to reveal new features, so we now have quite an array of pits and postholes. At the eastern end of the trench, we now have the foundation of a significant wall. We don't have anything dating this currently, but this could be associated … Continue reading Day 32 – More activity in the New Churchyard
