Gaby Fields reflects on joining Henry on Tour’s archaeological dig at Petworth House, 19-31 July 2024.
Joining an archaeological excavation of any kind is always a unique experience. Aside from the distinctiveness of each site, period, or material, it is always interesting to see the people who come to partake in it – and everyone is united in their curiosity about the past. Before I started a PhD focused on 19th century literature and history, I studied archaeology for my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Though my opportunities to help on excavations are rarer now, and it had been a few years since I’d worked on a site, I was very fortunate to join the Henry on Tour project for a week, through my PhD’s partner organisation, Historic Royal Palaces.
This excavation was organised by DigVentures, a brilliant enterprise that crowdfunds community archaeology projects, bringing locals (or not-so-locals) together to work onsite – excavating trenches or cleaning and processing finds. The excavation lasted for two weeks, and I was there for one of them. I didn’t get the chance to see how everything looked before the trenches were refilled, but from what I’ve heard since, it may be the case that we were digging in slightly the wrong place.
We had two trenches on the west front of the house, in search of the lost Tudor North Wing, and one atop the hill northwest of the house, hoping to find evidence of Henry VIII’s banqueting house. We did hit a small amount of wall (in that we encountered some of the foundations we were looking for), but a return visit would make for further elucidation about the structure. Perhaps we missed some of the Tudor material, but I learned a lot more about how the gardens were constructed by trowelling over (and eventually mattocking through) the very flat layer of rubble laid down by Capability Brown’s team, when he redesigned the gardens of Petworth in the 18th century. Within that, we found some interesting samples of worked stone, nails, ceramic building material… the usual suspects on such a site.
Aside from the excavation, I was very pleased to join two of the Henry on Tour team (Dr Kate Giles and Professor Anthony Musson) along with Regional National Trust archaeologist (Dr James Brown), the team of Petworth curators and Henry, a former employee now a volunteer (whose relationship with Petworth House goes back over fifty years) on an exploration of the property, in search for evidence of its Tudor history. The house (which appears vast when it’s seen from the ground) seemed to triple in size as we were shown through the abandoned cellars, tunnels and attics, including a breathtaking vaulted hall now housing the boiler. We were told all sorts of fascinating stories by Henry, who has spent his life working in this house, such as tales of the old “donkey circle”, in which a circling donkey was genuinely used to generate electricity in the early 20th century.
Part of Summer 2024’s Petworth project was community outreach. People are always curious to stumble across an archaeological excavation, and in this instance, we could direct them to the Battery House to learn more. Here, Kate and Anthony had set up a room of family-friendly activities, with opportunities to play archaeologist in a sandpit, design heraldic symbols, play a board game specially designed for Henry on Tour, or have a chat about the project, its aims and its findings thus far. It was a wonderful way to showcase the interdisciplinarity of Henry on Tour!
On my final day onsite, I was joined by Katie Moncur from Historic Royal Palaces' social media team, and together we filmed a video exploring the archaeologist’s toolkit. The video, should you be interested in learning more about what can be found on every terrestrial excavation, can be found below.
For more information about the background to the research and activities at Petworth House, see our blog post Henry VIII at Petworth House.