The geophysical survey carried out in 2014 gave an indication of buidlings or structures under the East Lawn as well as in The Orchard. The ‘Big Dig’,15-19 July 2015, was instigated to locate the remains of the Tudor Manor which was always thought to be in The Orchard but the survey results had challenged this thinking. The only way to resolve this was to dig up both sites to see what could be found.
The plan was to dig a series of trenches in the East Lawn and The Orchard in an attempt to find evidence of the Tudor Manor. Three trenches were dug in the East Lawn and whilst there were some finds ranging from medieval to Victorian the only structure found was a brick culvert seemingly in the middle of a cobbled surface but it could not be dated.
In the orchard, about 7 metres from the Church boundary there is a substantial flint wall foundation and a large pot rim that might be medieval was found here. Over a ton of discarded Tudor bricks were removed and at the very bottom appears to be a Tudor foundation. It has a beam slot in it, where a wooden beam would have sat. There was also some indications that the Tudor foundations could have been built over an earlier structure.
Three trenches were opened on the East Lawn and apart from the brick culvert only fragments of brick, roof tile and window glass were found along with many nails and oyster shells.
Several finds were made in the Orchard trenches some of which are listed below:
- A large worked stone, probably Medieval, it would have been part of an arched doorway.
- A Tudor or Medieval shape shoe, made to protect the edges of a wooden spade and give it a sharp edge.
- A silver Tudor button with a facetted glass stone.
- A small gilded ring
- A large pot rim possibly medieval
- A button dated 1861-80 made by R W Reynold of London possibly from a sevant's livery as it may have the 5 feathers from the family crest.
- A loulded piece of terracotta probaly used to decorate the Tidor house.
- A scent bottle and other 18th Century bottles.
- A painted tile.
the finds have now been taken away for assessment and a report will be written. The finds will then be returned to Hinton to form the basis of an exhibition next year.
We succeeded in our mission, which was to find the location of theTudor manor; we never thought we would find traces of the Medieval.