As part of this summer's project, we hope to further investigate an oven on the western side of the castle mound which post-dates the castle buildings (see image). Deposits of heat-affected material within the oven may be dated by a technique known as archaeomagnetic dating. This relies upon measuring the strength and direction of the magnetism of minerals within a clay sample. When clay is burned or fired, minerals within it take on the prevailing strength and direction of the earth's magnetic field, which fluctuates.

LATEST FINDS

A small quantity of medieval redware pottery has been found during initial de-turfing of new areas of the site. One fragment represents the base of a vessel. More metalworking debris has been recovered from the workshop area on the northern part of the castle mound, and fragments of wood are being found in the waterlogged deposits under investigation in the moat.

VISITORS

We have given guided tours to around 40-50 visitors each day so far during this new phase of the dig. Visitors have come from New Zealand, Canada, Sweden, Malaysia, the United States and Australia, and some who visited the dig last summer have returned this month to catch up on the latest results. Our guided tours take in aspects of the later castle and of the geography of the area, and the walk down to the site of the dig is very attractive at the moment, with buttercups and wild irises (see image) lining the edges of both castles' moats.