25/07/2019 - Permalink

Shrewsbury Castle Dig Diary – Day Three

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Day three of the excavation has seen us move through the lower part of layer two. We have begun to find more artefacts from the 16th and 17th century, but these are mainly mixed pot fragments and glass. Whilst at one end of the trench an obvious surface made up of compacted stone can be seen, at the other end this surface has yet to be seen. Most of the day has seen the team trying to work through down to those layers that can be seen at the opposite end, with little success. During this process very few finds were being discovered, largely discarded animal bone and clay pipe. Although we made good progress in removing these deposits it was beginning to feel slightly disheartening.

Suddenly this all changed when Professor Tim Jenkins identified what seems to be a raven on yet another fragment of glass, and he identified the design as a seal of the Corbet family. The object was part of a bottle, which would possibly have contained wine. Following this find our motivation was restored and we began to remove yet more earth until we uncovered a new and distinct orange layer in the trench that we will investigate tomorrow as we continue the dig.

An image of the Corbet glass seal fragment found during the first ever excavation at Shrewsbury Castle.

Seal of Nobility- the Corbet Family Seal upon a fragment of glass bottle