Preprocess Annotations

Report Title

Edward III's Round Table at Windsor. The House of the Round Table and the Windsor Festival of 1344

Publisher and Publication Year

Oxford Archaeological Unit - 2007

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Summary

Summary From 26th-29th August 2006, Oxford Archaeology (OA) carried out archaeological investigations on behalf of Wildfire TV/Time Team/Channel 4 in the Upper Ward at Windsor Castle. These investigations formed part of series of live television programmes focusing on the archaeology and history of Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Holyrood House in Edinburgh, a project developed in conjunction with Channel 4 as a contribution to Her Majesty the Queen's 80th birthday celebrations. Three trenches were excavated in the Upper Ward. These trenches clarified the previously uninvestigated nature, date and extent of survival of archaeological deposits within the Upper Ward Quadrangle. Evidence was revealed for Edward III's Round Table building and the original location of the Charles II equestrian statue base. In addition mapping rectification carried out during the work indicated the probable previous location (and likely historic destruction/removal) of Henry VIII's fountainhead. All geophysical work was carried out by GSB Prospection Ltd supervised by John Gator. All excavation work was carried out by Oxford Archaeology supervised by Richard Brown. The Project Design was formulated and documented1 by Richard Brown in consultation with English Heritage, The Royal Household and Wildfire TV. Governmental Designations, licences and consents Windsor Castle is within the non-civil parish of Windsor and Maidenhead in the Historic County of Berkshire. The castle (as defined by the existing curtain walls and the eastern limit of the Upper Ward State Apartments) is a Scheduled Monu- ment (ref. WN 80). The Castle (including the grassed slopes conditions, along with deposition with the Archaeological Data Service (ADS) of an AutoCAD® plan drawing of the excavations, online entry of the investigation results at ads.ahds. ac.uk/project/oasis and deposition of the excavation archive with the Curator of Windsor Castle. 1 Oxford Archaeology/Cambrian Archaeology 2006, Windsor Castle - Upper Ward and College of St George, Project Design for an Archaeological Investigation V.1-3.0(1) unpublished client document Oxford Archaeology/Cambrian Archaeology 2006, Windsor Castle - UpperWard and College of St George, Updated Project Design for an Archaeological Investigation V.4-5.0(1) unpublished client document Oxford Archaeology 2006, Archaeological Investigations - Upper Ward, Windsor Castle, Post-Excavation Assessment and Publication Proposal V.1.1, unpublished client document Edward III's Round Table at Windsor 158 The geology, geography and topography of the Upper Ward Windsor Castle is located2 on top of an isolated chalk dome which has been cut away on the north to form a steep cliff, by the Thames. At its highest the dome rises to approximately 52 m OD. To the west the site is bounded by Thames Street, the northern extension of Windsor High Street. To the north, east and south the greater part of the Castle limits are surrounded by the more rural setting of the Home Park. The site is situated on an outcrop of Upper Chalk in places covered with "clay with flints" and surrounded by Terrace gravels3 . The scheduled monument is c 5.3 ha in area. The investigation area in the Upper Ward is defined by the limits of the central grassed area within the Upper Ward quadrangle. This area measures c 92 m east-west and 42m north-south (3864m²). The surface of the grassed area slopes from the east to west and from the north to the south. The north east corner of the grassed area is at 52.80 m OD, the south east corner is at 52.42 m OD, the north west corner is at 51.68 m OD, the south west corner is at 50.76m OD. A drawing supplied by the Royal Household4 shows multiple services crossing the site and a substantial subway/service corridor cutting north-south through the eastern quarter of the site. For security purposes the service information has been removed from the illustrations. Prior to excavation there was a poor understanding of the depth and topographical contours of the "clay with flints" and chalk bedrock underlying the central part of the quadrangle or of the depth, character and date of overlying deposits. The archaeological and historical background of the Upper Ward Quadrangle Whilst new evidence on the development of the Upper Ward gained through the rescue excavations carried out in 1992 by English Heritage and Central Archaeology Service5 has greatly contributed to the authoritative works carried out by W. H St.John Hope6 the character of deposits underlying the central part of the Upper Ward remained poorly understood. Although the area has been much impacted in modern times by service and utility works no formal archaeological or geotechnical recording had been carried out in this area. 2 NGR SU 969 770 - 496985/177029 centred

Table of Contents

Headings

Summary
2 NGR SU 969 770 - 496985/177029 centred
3 Geological Survey of Great Britain, Sheet number 269
4 Plowman Craven Associates, Drg No. WC-08-SS-QEX
Potential Pre-Castle Archaeological Remains
Post-medieval
10 Hope, Vol. I , 258
12 Colvin et al 1975 - 302-333
Conclusions and Discussion
Later Prehistoric Pottery
Comments