Tutbury Castle, Staffordshire. A Programme of Archaeological Work 2006

A third season of archaeological work was carried out at Tutbury Castle, Staffordshire as part of a wider research project in collaboration with the British Museum and Tutbury Castle. The survey work included a resistivity survey of the outer bailey, GPR surveys of the middle and outer baileys and completion of the topographical survey of the castle hill and its earthworks. In addition, there were several excavation foci, Area 1 begin located to the west of the chapel, Area 2 between the North and South towers, and Area 3 on the motte. Two trenches were excavated in Area 2, one to the north of the South Tower (Area 2a), and one to the southwest of the North Tower (Area 2b). Area 2a was a re-opening of the trench partially excavated in this area in 2005, which had uncovered the top of a sequence of waterlogged layers (Martin-Bacon and Kincey 2006); work during the 2006 season involved the excavation of those layers. The natural subsoil was reached at a depth of approximately 2m, and at the northwest end of the trench, towards the bailey, the edge of a large feature was discovered which was tentatively identified as a ditch. This opens the way for a reinterpretation of the character of the early castle. The ditch was filled, and the adjacent berm covered with organic material including large amounts of birch bark and wood, containing a quantity of pieces of leather, both primary and secondary off cuts and shoe fragments, all of which appeared to have been deposited during the late 11thto 12th century. This whole collection of material suggested that both tanning and manufacture of leather artefacts had been carried on at the site at an early period and that the debris from these processes had been deposited within the inner ward.