Historic Properties

Midlands

Interpretative surveys have been undertaken at Baconsthorpe, Norfolk, a large fifteenth- century manor house, and documentary research and fieldwork have been carried out at Rufford Abbey, Nottinghamshire, a large ruined country house built over the extant remains of a Cistercian Abbey. The survey and interpretation of Sutton Hall, an eighteenth-century country house gutted in the twentieth century, has been completed, and geophysical surveys have been undertaken at Landguard Fort, Essex, and Kenilworth Castle (Leicester's Gatehouse), Warwickshire, both in advance of repair. A further survey of the Prior's Lodging, Castle Acre Priory, Norfolk, is currently in progress. Minor excavations and geophysical surveys have been undertaken at Audley End House, Essex, during works to confirm the line of the nineteenth-century paths. This year saw the completion of the report of excavations at Tilbury Fort, undertaken between 1988 and 1991, which included the investigation of the unfinished bastion whose foundations are still to be seen on the foreshore. Two major reports on excavations at Wroxeter were also completed to schedule.

Recording of the ruined Terrace Range, a mid seventeenth-century building which housed the principal apartments at Bolsover Castle, has been undertaken by the City of Lincoln Archaeological Unit during consolidation works. This involved the addition of detail to a full digital photogrammetric survey, as well as analysis and interpretation, and the production of a record of all interventions. The results will be published as a full documentary record and will also incorporate the results of other past and current projects. This will include a full survey of the Forecourt buildings, a series of lodges which front the seventeenth-century Little Castle, a parody of a medieval keep. Following a geophysical, contour, and vegetation survey of the Fountain Garden at Bolsover, Northampton Archaeology have undertaken limited excavations to identify the form of the early seventeenth-century garden. A circuit path has been identified which runs close to the medieval curtain wall and which encompasses the gardens, and the present layout of the gardens which dates from the mid seventeenth century has also been established. Documentary research is being carried out in conjunction with archaeological investigations, largely to establish the iconography of the fountain which stands at the centre of the garden.

This year will see the completion of a four year project to record and interpret the ruined ranges as part of the full consolidation of the Bishop's Old Palace at Lincoln. The work, undertaken by the City of Lincoln Archaeological Unit, involved the completion of a comprehensive photogrammetric survey in non-digital form, interpretation of the development of the building, and production of a comprehensive record of surviving mouldings and a record of all previous interventions. The final phase of work will include a full publication report. During the year, work at Witley Court in association with the conservation of this major ruined country house has continued. The link block between the church and house has been recorded, as has the stable yard gate, both prior to works. Further research is being carried out within the park, including a survey of its northern extent.

There have been two major cataloguing projects on the reserve collections in store at Atcham, Shrewsbury, and at Beeston Store, Norfolk, where the Norfolk Archaeology Unit has nearly completed two years' work on the collections from East Anglia. The unit has acquired new skills, including recognition of different eighteenth-century brick types! By the end of these projects, about two million objects will have been checked against the pre-existing inventories, the records corrected and extended, and the database entries completed. The existence of site inventories will be publicised and copies will be available in hard copy or on line for students, researchers, and the public. Future work on the collections will concentrate on reassembling archives which have become dispersed. This is particularly relevant for old excavation archives, demonstrated by the as yet fruitless attempts to locate the original archive of the excavations at Wall, Staffordshire. Even if we cannot acquire dispersed archives and collections, we should at least hold information about all sources for sites in guardianship. A major Collections Management project has been the marking of all the books in the libraries at Audley End (comprising approximately 11,000 items) to allow effective record keeping, and also to reinstate as far as possible the historic (pre-1948) ordering of the books.