The geophysical investigations of Palace Field in 2023 by the Darent Valley Landscape Partnership archaeological group indicated the presence of a hitherto unsuspected building in the Great Inner Court.
The building was not aligned with the Tudor Palace and does not appear in any picture or engravings of the Palace. We therefore surmised that these were the foundations of a pre-Tudor building. Having obtained the necessary Scheduled Monument Consents, our lead archaeologist Dr Anne Sassin, led a dig consisting of two small trenches, during the week of 22nd April. The excavations were on display to the public during the May Day celebrations on Sunday 27th April where they attracted considerable interest. The archaeological team were on hand to answer questions.
Anne Sassin writes: “Our aisled hall is definitely medieval, judging from the pottery constructed likely c 1250-1350. We may hopefully get a tighter date for its period of use, as we will be obtaining a carbon date from the surface area of a probable side annex or entrance, but this will be a several weeks. Pottery was actually limited from the occupation layers, and our best guess is that the building was demolished and covered over with a demolition spread in the first half of the 16th century, which would fit in with the palace’s construction.
“The current theory is that it is a large barn tied to the medieval manor. Otford manorial records in the first half of the 14th century refer to several buildings in the area which are likely to not all be within the moated area (an ox house, stable, sheep house and Grange (possibly a granary or barn)). There is a 1323 reference to repairs to the ‘Great Grange’, and 4000 tiles were imported in 1356 for “the roof of the new house between the oxhouse and the haygrange called strawhouse’. The geophysics also suggests there are likely other smaller structures on the same alignment as our hall within the great court, and I expect there is more to the 14th-century complex in Palace Field. Obviously, our interventions were very limited.”
Work is continuing on the post-excavation work, including assessment of the many ‘finds’ and a full report will be published in due course. We hope that this will be published in the relevant journals, and will also appear on the Otford Palace website.
