Another brick foundation and a stoneware drain turned up today (7 September) both where they were expected as they were a continuation of ones seen in the 1997 excavation.
 
The while thing is beginning to make more sense. The original front wall of the house has been uncovered across almost the whole length of the trench. It is mostly chalk and probably dates from the late 17th century. Some brickwork was added to the inner side of it probably in the 18th century to support a timber floor. The front wall of the original house was demolished around 1800 when the building was extended forward towards the Ponds. This seems a rather drastic change, but the same thing was done in the present Honeywood around the same time or perhaps a bit later. The extension appears to have been timber framed and then covered with laths and cement render which painted yellow. Bits of the rendering have turned up scattered through the soil and rubble. The foundations for the internal walls of the extension are only one brick length thick and not very deep. One has sunk very noticeably. It looks like the house had serious structural problems which may explain why it was demolished.

We then decided to excavate an area of mortar in the middle of the trench. We have wondered if this was the base of a chimney but on examination the deposit seems to be tightly packed crushed mortar rather than a bonded foundation. We have now removed part of it and there is a brick foundation underneath it. This is next to a Victorian stoneware drainage pipe which we have already partly excavated. The drain appeared to end against a stone block but on further excavation we found that this was a stone slab with a cavity beneath it. The slab has a layer of mortared roof tiles next to it which looks like another, perhaps older, drain running into the foundation. All very confusing. It is probably early 19th century, but we can’t be certain at this stage. Work continues tomorrow.

We worked on Saturday. We have now got traces of three brick walls. Two are at the north end of the trench looking 19th century and are probably connected with a major remodelling of the house that seems to have taken place at that time. They are probably both continuations of walls seen in the 1997 excavation which was immediately west of the present trench.
 
The other foundation is odd in both construction and alignment. It is made of brick, tile and chalk and appears to be the continuation of a brick and tile wall seen in the 1997 trench. That was aligned more or less east-west. It runs into the present trench and then immediately turns north. It is probably an internal wall. The brick in it looks 18th century.
 
We expected to find the foundation of the front (east) wall of the house but it has not, so far, appeared.
 
We are going to stop excavations so we can concentrate on the Oaks finds project which will be taking place next week – it is open to the public Thursday to Saturday.
 
The trench now looks quite promising, and I am intending to resume excavation in early September. The gap will also provide some time for thinking.