Dig uncovers what lies beneath Victorian tiles in 12th century undercroft (From Runcorn and Widnes World)

Dig uncovers what lies beneath Victorian tiles in 12th century undercroft

8:30am Friday 20th November 2009

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INTRIGUING discoveries have been unearthed after archeologists dug deep beneath the medieval undercroft at Norton Priory this week.

They lifted the Victorian tiled floor of the 12th century building to find out why it was sinking.

Lynn Smith, senior keeper, said: “It is very exciting as it is the first excavation here since the major digs were carried out in the 1970s and 1980s.”

Runcorn’s very own time team from Earthworks Archeology dug two trenches and revealed the tiled floor had a layer of rubble underneath it which was sealed by a layer of black bitumen.

Lynn added: “Underneath this was a silty layer which suggests the area may well have once been a pond or something similar.

“We also know that the pillars which support the beautiful vaulted roof sit on a very solid stone wall foundation.

“A setting of sandstone blocks was also uncovered which could well be a plinth which was used to hold a timber scaffold or mechanism used to construct the vaulting.”

Samples of the silt have been taken so that when additional funding becomes available, the deposit can be analysed.

The Victorian floor has been sinking only in areas where the silt is deposited.

Norton Priory Museum Trust is grateful to English Heritage and Halton Council for all their assistance in making this investigation possible.

The problem of the sinking floor is one of many facing the undercroft which will be addressed through a planned major capital re-development project.

TV and film blockbusters such as Cassanova, Island At War and The Forsyte Saga have been filmed in the undercroft.

Norton Priory is one of the largest excavated monastic sites in Europe.

A major re-analysis of all the finds discovered in the 1970s and 1980s has been published in a new book ‘Norton Priory: Monastery to Museum’, now available from the museum shop.

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