Three Trenches

The Tale of the three Trenches

(The first ‘dig’ at Fishbourne Roman Palace since 2002)

 [4 – 7  September 2010]

My stride lengthened with anticipation, my heart began to race and the trowels in the bag I was carrying began to clang together with impatience.  Then I saw him, sitting proud in his digger, fifty years on he had returned.

I caught my breath and introduced myself to the Portsmouth Water Board repair team of Richard, Mick, Trevor, Sean and Ben. Then, after handshakes all round and a short chat about the possible archaeology that may be discovered, it began. The mouth of the digger yawned and then burst into life as Sean skilfully engaged it to carefully remove the first of the turfs.

The next four days were exciting, exhausting and exhilarating but extremely rewarding by allowing me and my imagination a short-term window view into the past.  That Saturday had begun with an early morning walk with the dog and a leisurely breakfast.  At 11.45 am I went over to the Palace to view the cine film, made by Geoffrey Claridge, of the 1960’s excavations of the Palace, which was led by Barry Cunliffe and Margaret Rule.  The film, shows footage of the volunteers and staff in the process of revealing the mosaics, which was to be part of the 50 years on exhibition, called -  Ruins, Rotas and Romances.  This exhibition was a look back at the every day life of the people who worked on the excavations at that time.  It was put together by using Palace archive material and excavators memories of the events (and is the topic of another post on this blog! - Derrick). 

After viewing the film on the computer in the museum, I noticed an unprecedented amount of water on the mosaic ’J’.  The mosaic had, over time, subsided into an underlying gully which had severely deformed it.  Even more noticeable was the amount of water in the gullies of the courtyard south of the ‘Boy on a Dolphin’ mosaic.  

The Water company had been called shortly after opening time and their engineer confirmed there was chloride in the water sample he had taken.  He organised an emergency repair team to excavate the water-main which is situated outside, but close to the north wing wall.  There had been a major leak on that water-main in recent years. 

Trevor, the chief engineer, using his experience that the leak would be at a collar joining two sections of the water-main, plus his knowledge of where the last collar leakage had been 4-5 years previously, and at what distance the collars were placed apart, situated trench ‘A’ 4.2 meters west of the last known leak.

Down Sean went with the mouth of his digger as I eagerly troweled through the spoil which it brought to the surface.  At 82 cms below ground level I noticed a small layer of burnt clay (8 cms thick and 29cms in length) on the south side of the trench.  This layer contained some small fragments of charcoal.  This I photographed.  


Then the shout went out that we were down to the water-main.  Ben started to vigorously dig around the pipe with his shovel and located the collar.  A pump was then put into the trench to clear away the murky water.  As the water level receded it became clear and, too obvious disappointment, that the collar was secure and not leaking water.  Over coffee, tea and biscuits, generously supplied by the café on site, we discussed how to proceed to resolve the problem.

The team agreed to open trench ’B’ uphill and 4.2m west of trench ‘A’.  Revitalised by the strong coffee and chocolate biscuits, Sean mounted the digger and with renewed excitement and anticipation, trench ‘B’ was started.

The digger purred at Sean’s touch and responded by beginning to remove the turfs and top soil, so down we went again.  My trowel was kept busy probing and cutting into the clumps of sticky, reddish brown clay which was being deposited north of the trench.  The water-main loomed into sight and Ben eagerly dug around the collar.  A water pump was placed next to the collar and as the water level dropped it revealed the elusive leak.

Trevor phoned the water company storage depot to make sure a new collar was available but unfortunately there was not one in stock.  Frantic calls were made to other likely suppliers and one

was located in Kent.  It would be loaded on a lorry that evening and be delivered the next day.

Gordon Hayden BA MA had joined us after his shift as a Guide at the Palace.  He had contacted the Palace Director, Curator and the English Heritage inspector responsible for the site to keep them informed of the progress as they were all unable to be present at this time.

As the rain clouds gathered in  the distant sky to the west, a celebration was held with more tea, coffee and biscuits.  I mentioned to the team that I would go and check if the water in the Palace was now receding.  I instructed my body to turn to the right but my feet within my boots refused to obey, being stuck fast in the soft, sticky clay.  The rest of my body tried to obey but it only managed to collapse backwards into the waiting gory mess.  As the laughter began to fade, a muscly arm was offered to me and gratefully I pulled on it as hard as I could.  Reluctantly and noisily, the reddish brown clay released me.  Gordon, having assessed my situation, soon returned buoyant from the Palace with the news that most of the water had receded from the affected areas, and for now the mosaics were out of danger.

Gordon and I then proceeded to record what was visible in trench ‘A’  and a number of photos were taken.  The water board team then back-filled the trench.  Nothing more could be done that Saturday but a team would return on the Monday to fit the new collar.  At 7pm that evening I returned to check that the pump was still working efficiently.  All was well so I returned home tired and with aching limbs, but pleased with the finds that I had retrieved from the two trenches.

Sunday 5 September dawned clear and bright and while I continued with renewed vigour to search for artefacts, Gordon Hayden and Ian Robertson (Field Officer, Worthing Archaeological Society) recorded and photographed trench ‘B’.  Trevor Morton from the water board arrived to check all was well with the pump and told us that he would be on site early on Monday, with his team, to continue the repair.  Visits were paid by the Curator of the Palace, Rob Symonds, and the retired Palace Director, David Rudkin.

Monday turned out to be a roller-coaster day of mixed emotions. Joy, disbelief, anticipation and frustration – all were tasted in varying degrees. The team, after Trevor managed to reduce the water pressure through the water- main, removed the old collar.  The rubber seals between the collar and the water-main pipe had perished.  When I enquired about the turning down of the flow of water through the main, Trevor remarked that if I was sitting on the joint as the collar was removed, the water at full pressure would lift me skywards and by the time I came down the clothes I was wearing would be out of fashion.  This explanation was greeted with howls of laughter.  The humour of the team was infectious and enjoyable. 

The new, expensive collar lay patiently by the side of the trench and as the sun caressed it, it began to glow dazzlingly bright and the dew upon it became a sparkling ring of diamonds.  It seemed a shame to disturb it and bury it beneath a weight of dirty clay.

But it had to be done and the team made short work of the task.  It was fitted with smiles and relief, but the emotion of disbelief was lurking and was soon to become a reality as water continued to fill the trench.  All were silent, eyes met eyes, but surprisingly there was not a lot of cursing.

It had rained hard for 10 minutes when the collar had been fitted – so perhaps this was ground water after the rain.  To test this theory, a coloured dye was put into two of the down-pipe drains which took the roof water off the Palace.  The down-pipes were west of trench ’B’.  Eyes were transfixed on to the trench, everyone was silent then, after what seemed like an age, the green dye began to seep into the trench.  Sadly and disappointingly it came out further north than the water which was already filling the trench.  The main flow had been reduced by fitting the new collar but the volume of water still flowing determined that there was, perhaps, a further leak at the next collar to the west. Another collar was ordered by Trevor and it would be arriving early the next morning.  Nothing more could be done that day so the water pump was checked that it was still working efficiently.  I arranged to meet Trevor on site the next morning at 7am.

The new collar was made of aluminium and being lighter would be easier to fix.  The pump was left in trench ‘B’ to keep the mosaics safe from any more flooding.  Then 4.2m west was measured and anticipation grew as trench ‘C’ was started.  Unfortunately and frustratingly, the water main began to run very close to the North Wing wall.  So close, in fact, that the team had to remove a number of white slabs which ran along the outside of the North Wing wall.  By the time the collar was located it was situated adjacent to the hypocaust in room N1.  Sean showed great skill by using a narrow digger mouth to come down onto the collar – thus disturbing a minimal amount of   what was left of the already damaged tile culvert. This culvert is described by Barry Cunliffe during his excavations of the North Wing.  (Excavations at Fishbourne 1961-69, Volume1: the site).  The murky water was pumped out and Ben vigorously dug around the collar to reveal the leak.  The team decided to adjust the collar in situ and re-tighten the bolts which held it to the main.  This was successful and the only water now coming into the trench was a minimal amount of ground water.

That Tuesday evening I returned home exhausted. Meditating over a beer, I came to the conclusion that until the water-main is re-directed north, towards the railway line, and a land drain inserted to take away the ground water from the north wall, the mosaics would always remain at risk. 

On Wednesday afternoon I went to the Palace to clean and review my unstratified finds from the spoil of the trenches.  There was a surprising amount of Roman period ceramic building material.  Also, there was a large amount of fragmented lower greensand blocks. Barry Cunliffe suggests, in his 1961-69 excavations, that there could be more buildings north of the North Wing.  Perhaps some of these greensand blocks add weight to that theory.  The assessment and the description of this area must await more extensive excavations.

The finds included a number of shards of black coarse ware and a large piece of pot rim.  There were numerous pieces of pink mortar and a collection of oyster shells.  In addition, there were two pieces of 1st Century South Gaulish dragendorff form 37 decorated Samian bowl.  Animal bone, which included two pigs teeth and possibly some fallow deer bone – which is waiting to be analysed, were also found.  There was also a piece of amphora base of Fishbourne type 153.  Interestingly, two pieces of painted wall plaster were present, one being of pale orange colour, the other being predominantly red.

I left the Palace that evening with mixed emotions. My search for that elusive inscription, which would reveal more clues as to why the Palace was built, coupled with my desire to find an initialled finger ring – to throw light on the inhabitants of the Palace, will continue.  So for now, the Roman Palace holds on to its intrigue and mystery, but one day perhaps, yes, one day, …..one day!

I hope that you have enjoyed my article. Please leave a comment.

Derrick A Napier

March 2011

Foot-note:

As Fishbourne Roman Palace is a scheduled site by English Heritage, and the water-main is the property of Portsmouth Water Company, George Annalay – an independent archaeologist, was commissioned to write up the final report of the excavated areas.