Day 5 - Sunday 12th July 2009

We have continued working on the new trench that we opened yesterday (F), and towards the end of the afternoon we broke into the cavity in the northwest corner of the trench. It was immediately apparent that this was much larger than the usual gaps in the rubble-fill. Further investigation showed that there was a wall running northeast to southwest across the corner of the trench and that the cavity was a semi-basement cellar window. This must have been the side of the bay window which projected from the north wall of the house. This was an addition to the house – probably for the Earl of Derby and we did not know that there were cellars there. This was a useful bit of information but also a disappointment as the construction of the cellar would have destroyed the foundations of the mid-18^th century house.

The find in trench F encouraged us to resume work on trench D in the hope that further excavation there will uncover the mid-18^th century foundations. We have not found them so far and will resume work on this in the morning.

The other trenches are now complete; much of the planning and recording has been done and the excavation is gradually coming to an end.

We have already backfilled trench A and we are likely to do some more filling tomorrow.