If we knew what we were going to find, it wouldn’t be worth looking. Treasured Islands! Episode 2 - Conclusions

Blog 11 24th October 2011


All the good intentions of writing on every few days during the excavations in September went the way of all flesh, I’m afraid. Sorry. There were two main reasons – the usual maelstrom of work in other directions, but also the rather slow pace at which the Quebec’s stories revealed themselves. As was hinted at in previous blogs, the archaeology was really very different from what we had expected. Explaining that is still occupying our minds, and may take a while yet to bring to a conclusion.

The first surprise was that the islands and shoreline were never very robustly built. This explains why the pond changed shape on the different historic maps from between 1831 and 1893, but not how the feature kept its form for the hundred years or so before 1831. Obviously it was always at risk from the force of the Skell in spate – and perhaps that was part of its character, at variance with the fixed geometry of the other garden ponds.

The one bit of edging we did find was on the shoreline, closest to the nearest path access. Just below the stone edging we found a single large square posthole. There is a 1730s account book reference to repairs to a drawbridge – it’s not beyond the realms of the possible that the posthole was from one of its footings. It would certainly be interesting to excavate a larger area in this vicinity to explore this possibility further.

Another puzzle that remains surrounds the way in which the Quebec was lost. The archaeology suggests gradual silting up over a long period – but that’s very hard to reconcile with the historic maps showing a relatively uniform size of feature prior to its sudden disappearance. Our trenches were limited to a depth of 1.20m for safety reasons, so we didn’t excavate to the bottom of the silts, but before the trenches were refilled we used augurs to test for the bottom, so its now possible to draw the original profiles.

The most north-westerly trench provided the most vivid evidence for the appearance of the lost island – root boles from the trees that once stood on it, pitched at angles as they once clung to the sloping shore. These survived the infilling, and were felled much later, as the chain saw marks that survived on them proved.

The biggest, least welcome, surprises came in the southern trenches. Here no trace of the smaller islands or the shores could be found. Instead there was deep disturbance with a single dump of silty material refilling it, all “sealed” by the circular concrete pond built by the West Riding County Council in the late 1960s. (We’d questioned the date of that pond, but the plastic sheeting on which its concrete footings were cast closed off any suggestion that it was any earlier).

It wasn’t clear what had caused the damage to the southern end of the site. It’s possible that it was erosion damage: we have seen the Skell in spate gouge holes 12 feet deep in an afternoon – but only where flow is constricted. It couldn’t have been here, and we certainly don’t know of any flood events around 1910 (the local newspapers are pretty good at recording them or at least how they impinged on Ripon). It seems even less likely that such damage could have occurred after the feature was filled in.

The more likely explanation is that there was an experiment to excavate a smaller but deeper pond at some point after the initial infilling. There’s no map evidence to suggest when this might have occurred – there’s nothing on the OS editions of 1909, 1910, 1928 or 1938. We can also assume that the feature was long filled in again before the WRCC tried building their pond. They’d not have chosen this site had they known how potentially unstable the substrates were. Two likely dates suggest themselves. It might have been tried out at the point when the Quebec was infilled, between 1903 and 1909. However, elsewhere there is simplification in the garden design at this point not complication. The other possibility is in the mid 1930s. The feature was filled with dredged material, and we know that the Vyners provided employment dredging the river during the great Depression. It is possible digging the pond was another such scheme that was abandoned again for some reason.


There’s still more work to do drawing all the evidence together and further illumination may come from that. Meanwhile, the third phase of the project – excavations across the dam to the south of the Quebec will take place in November or December – watch this space!

Sedimentary my dear Watson - The Case of the Studley Silt, August 2011

A relaxing holiday in a hot, exotic country…or a week in Yorkshire collecting soil samples in the mud and rain – I know which I’d prefer!!! Travelled around the River Skell catchment to collect my 44 soil samples and removed the 8 sediment samplers – as would be expected a larger amount of sediment had collected further down the river where the material was being transported. Also collected sediment samples from the water bodies in the Fountains Abbey and Studley site.

Just returned from Lancaster University where I’ve spent a week and a half preparing and analysing my samples. For the magnetic fingerprinting technique, several tests were conducted on all the samples (the tests were magnetic susceptibility, Anhysteric Remenance Magentisation (ARM), and Isothermic Remenance Magnetisation (IRM)). The samples were then dried, weighed, burnt (to remove the organic matter) and then weighed again to determine the mineral to organic matter ratio in each sample. For the isotope analysis preparation a selection of 25 samples which were representative of the catchment were chosen, dried and then ground to a fine powder although the equipment that is used will take a few weeks before the results are ready.

The search for clues continues next month.

Sedimentary my dear Watson - The Case of the Studley Silt, July 2011

Have been contacting the various landowners on whose land I need to collect a sample. All were happy for me to obtain a sample (even if they were surprised by such an odd request!) and it was wonderful to talk to people who know so much about the landscape.

Installed 8 sediment samplers in the River Skell tributaries from Dallowgill Moor to Fountains Abbey. These now need to be left for 2-3 weeks when hopefully there will be some sizeable rainfall events which will allow a swollen river to carry a large amount of sediment! However whilst I am desperate for rain, my friends at uni are desperate for a hot summer to wear shorts and t-shirts!

Met with Marian Wilby – the Head of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty for Nidderdale - who informed me about the work and research which had been conducted in the River Skell over the years such as the Ripon (Multi-Objective Project).

Just completed a walk of the River Skell catchment from its source on Dallowgill Moor to Fountains and Studley in order to actually experience the area which I am studying.

Sedimentary my dear Watson - The Case of the Studley Silt, June 2011

Received permission from the Environment Agency to conduct my research in the River Skell catchment, meaning that six months of planning finally came to fruition to allow me to actually start collecting data!

Just finished collecting ten samples for preliminary experiments to ensure that there would be satisfactory results from my chosen methods of data collection and analysis. Even from this small number of samples, it is evident that there are distinct differences in the land use around the Skell catchment as well as differences in the soil types.

Sedimentary my dear Watson - The Case of the Studley Silt, May 2011

Have decided to add another method to my research – isotope analysis. Isotopes are different forms of the same chemical element and if samples are tested for Carbon and Nitrogen isotopes this can determine the predominant land type from where the sample was collected. For example one form of carbon is predominantly found in the soil of woodland areas whereas it will be different for agricultural land. This method will complement the magnetic fingerprinting technique as whilst the isotope analysis looks at the organic matter in the sample, the magnetic analysis looks at the mineral matter – thus giving a more holistic approach to the research.

I have also finalised my sampling strategy. In order to incorporate the various land uses and types of geology I need to obtain 44 soil samples from across the River Skell catchment. In terms of sediment, I will collect samples from the water bodies at Fountains and Studley in ‘jam jar-like’ pots. I am also going to collect eight sediment samples from different points along the River Skell with the use of time integrated suspended sediment samplers – a complicated name for metre long modified drainpipes which are placed in the water for two weeks and trap the sediment.

Sedimentary my dear Watson - The Case of the Studley Silt, April 2011

Conducted my first interviews today with Michael Ridsdale (Head of Landscape) and Alexa Morton (Head of Tourist Experience). I felt it was important to speak to the staff to learn about the project from different perspectives in order to learn of the considerations which had to be taken during the project in order to preserve the landscape whilst also maximising tourist experience.

I also conducted a brief walk of the National Trust site. Having visited the place countless times when I was growing up, I know Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal fairly well but looking at it from a geographical perspective was an entirely different experience – you don’t really tend to think about the flow of rainwater down a slope when you are enjoying a walk with your family!

Sedimentary my dear Watson - The Case of the Studley Silt, March 2011

Just submitted my literature review assignment which is a review of the work of sedimentologists and geographers in relation to three elements of my dissertation –magnetic fingerprinting, dredging as an option for addressing sediment issues and the sustainability of management. Learning about past research is vitally important to any project as it is only through completely understanding the past that progress can be made for the future.

Sedimentary my dear Watson - The Case of the Studley Silt, February 2011

Decided on a methodology for my research – magnetic fingerprinting. Sounds complicated (and not particularly exciting!) but is simply a way of discover the origin of the sediment in Studley Lake because just as everyone has a unique fingerprint, each grain of sediment has a unique ‘magnetic print’. The River Skell runs directly through Studley Lake, transporting and deposited sediment in the lake. Thus, soil and sediment samples need to be taken from around areas of the River Skell catchment which have different geology and land use. It should then be evident whether the ‘magnetic print’ of any of the samples matches the ‘magnetic print’ of the sediment in Studley Lake, and therefore explaining the presence of sediment in Studley Lake.

Sedimentary my dear Watson - The Case of the Studley Silt, January 2011

A new year and a new idea! Met with Michael Ridsdale, the Head of Landscape at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal and discussed conducting my dissertation at the site. This location is ideal to study water and sediment processes as the site has experienced centuries of change to the water bodies – from the creation of the Abbey Mill in the 1100s to the Georgian water gardens in the 1700s to the Studley Lake dredging project in 2010. This would also allow me to investigate whether methods such as dredging are sustainable for the environment, water quality and tourism, compared to new innovative approaches.

Sedimentary my dear Watson - The Case of the Studley Silt with Alice Gent

For any of you have trouble sleeping at night, my mum would not hesitate to recommend what she believes is a foolproof antidote to the problem – sedimentation! After all, why on earth would you be even vaguely interested in reading a blog about the work of someone who in January 2012 will have spent a year planning, collecting, analysing and writing about, well, mud?

Actually, sedimentation is when eroded material from rock or other biological matter is being, or has been, deposited by water.

To introduce myself, I am a third year undergraduate Geography student at Lancaster University and for my dissertation I am studying the process and management of sedimentation at the World Heritage site of ‘Studley Royal Park including the ruins of Fountains Abbey’. This process is a critical threat for the site of Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal whose World Heritage status is based upon its spectacular Georgian water bodies which are part of the River Skell. I am sure many of you will have followed the progress of the Studley Lake project whereby 60,000 tonnes of sediment were removed from the lake, demonstrating that only through careful management can Studley Lake be conserved. It was this project that sparked two questions in my mind which have become the aims of my research:

1.) Is there an area of the River Skell catchment which contributes most to the sediment in Studley Lake?
2.) Is the effect of sediment removal projects sustainable?

This blog is a month-by-month summary of my research in which I hope to contribute to the future conservation of Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal. So, whilst admittedly my mum is right about the soporific effects of sedimentation itself (the woman is always right!), the contribution of such research to environmental management is vitally important as it is only through such management that we can begin to ameliorate the destruction we have caused across the landscape.

“Humans have changed the way the world works.
Now they have to change the way they think about it, too”
(The Economist, May 2011)

Remember Quebec! Treasured Islands! Episode 2, Day 4

I wonder if it’s significant that it was the remains of a hurricane coming from Canada that rather deflated the events planned for today….

It was on 12 September 1759, that the summer-long siege of Quebec, the leading city of the French settlements in North America, was brought to a successful conclusion by General James Woolf. It’s that event that may well have given the Quebec garden its name, as English landowners became more jingoistic in response to colonial rumblings in North America in the later 1760s, and started erecting monuments to the battle. There seems to have been a small brass gun on the site (removed before 1801) thought to have been fired on the anniversary of the battle, and it’s been suggested (rather unconvincingly) that the islands and the water around them depicted Quebec with its rivers on either side.

Well, we couldn’t let an opportunity to revive a 200 year old custom pass, now could we? We couldn’t manage to find anyone with a cannon to spare, unfortunately, but a loud “Huzzah” in memory of the brave Redcoats, as the culmination of a special guided tour exploring the symbolism of the gardens, wouldn’t be a bad substitute.

Unfortunately, the remains of hurricane Katia had other ideas. With very strong winds buffeted the estate, tearing limbs off the trees, the estate had no option but to close the gates at 1pm, for safety reasons. From the forecast, it looks like Katia may also stop play tomorrow.

However, it was possible to catch up with Justin and Robert on site. They’d spent Sunday (when we had even more visitors than we’d had on Saturday) starting to carefully clean down the sections – vertical faces – of the machine excavated trenches. This is crucial for revealing the details of the archaeological record. Although one can see the larger scale changes in the soil profile as mechanical excavation progresses, the detail only emerges when the soil surfaces are carefully cleaned by hand with a shovel or trowel. This is especially true along the long edges of the trenches, where the digger’s bucket blade smears the layers, one into another.

The north-eastern 20 metre trench has cleaned up particularly well (as shown in the photo above). We’re now confident that we have found both the shore of the pond and the island, pretty much as they are shown on the 1891 25” survey. The substrates on the two sides are rather different – the island’s has lots of pebbles in it, the shore none. This might suggest that a large open pond basin was opened first and then the island was constructed within it: however, that would be a lot of extra work to go to, rather than just leaving the island unexcavated in the first place. We know from many previous excavations across the estate that the subsoil (which is made up of the “sludge” that was left behind by the melting ice sheet at the end of the last glaciation) varies hugely from place to place – so the variation here could be completely natural. However, we’ll need to dig further to establish exactly what’s going on, in order to understand the development of the site fully. Meanwhile the cleaning has revealed what seems to be remnants of the topsoil on the island, confirming the depth at which we should be looking for the shorelines in the other trenches. That will help to guide the work to be done when the mechanical digger is back on site – probably on Wednesday.

With that many historic maps, why dig holes? Treasured Islands! Episode 2, Day 3

It’s Sunday, and I’ve got the day off, leaving Justin and Robert to clean up the trenches we’ve got opened so far.

So that’s an opportunity to take a step back and talk about the results of the survey work done in July. The measured survey didn’t turn up any vast surprises, but it did create a completely accurate base map which we can use in all of our future works. Everyone thinks of Ordnance Survey maps as gospel truth, but in reality their precision varies considerably. The most accurate surveys are those of the first edition 6 inches to the mile survey, and the first edition 25 inch maps – which in Studley’s case were published in 1854 (surveyed 1848-52) and 1891 respectively. Both were completed after the site had been recorded by surveyors, whereas other editions drew on earlier sources for at least parts of their depictions. Even modern digital OS data is less precise, in some regards, than the first edition maps.

What the July survey gave us that we didn’t have before, were detailed contours of the site. These weren’t enormously illuminating, but were useful in confirming that the islands and the ponds hadn’t left any obvious surface traces (although the evidence did highlight inconsistencies in the location of the Quebec Monument, that we’re now keen to explore). So we could be sure that there was no other, better, evidence on which to base the location of our excavations than the historic maps (including the estate maps of 1831, 1838, and 1870 as well as the OS editions).

Using fixed points on our new survey, we were able to digitise the different historic map depictions of pond and islands and put them all on the same plan for the first time.

So much for all appearing to show us the same picture! As you’ll see from the image posted with this mailing, when looked at in detail the different depictions hardly correspond at all. A major objective of the excavations will be to try and determine which of the depictions is the most accurate, and another to establish whether there is any clear physical cause for so much variation in the course of just 60 years or so.

The trenches we planned to excavate are marked as red blocks on the illustration. As you’ll see, they cross the majority of the depictions of the edges of the ponds and islands, and so should pick up some sort of traces of whichever is the most accurate. Some of the southern trenches have had to be relocated, as I mentioned yesterday, and the most south-easterly one had encountered an unsuspected concrete track just beneath the surface. We’ll relocate it to hit less disturbed ground, when we’re back with the digger to finish the mechanical excavation on Tuesday.

Its all gone a bit soft around the edges... Treasured Islands! Episode 2, Day 2

I think it was General Eisenhower who is credited with the truism that planning is everything, while the plan itself is nothing. The working archaeologist needs to keep that thought very close to their heart when they get out onto site, as reality often doesn’t match one’s pre-existing expectations. Quebec certainly isn’t failing in that regard.

The current excavations are intending to open up a total of eight trenches, three large ones of 20 by two metres, and five of one metre by five. These are distributed around the site so that we can explore the locations of the different historic map depictions of where the shoreline and islands are shown, to determine which most closely reflected the truth.

Our first reality check, yesterday afternoon, was finding the error of our ways in not mapping the larger, recent, shrubs when we surveyed the site in July. Several of the planned trenches, that looked so good on paper, needed to be moved – but thankfully Justin and I were able to find some good alternatives.

Then it was the archaeology’s turn to misbehave! One tries to go onto a site like this with some vision of what the archaeological deposits should look like – and the story of the Quebec sounded reasonably straight forward. However, the first three trenches in the southern part of the site all encountered great depths of dumped silt, where the theory says they shouldn’t be. I’d also have guessed that the bottom of the pond would have been lined with puddle clay – absolutely no sign of that yet, though there are some other layers of pale loamey deposits that may yet prove to be the lining. The instant reaction – and one needs to avoid those, except when writing for a blog – is that there may have been a major episode of excavation/destruction in the southern part of the site that we didn’t know about previously, and that may have removed all evidence of the Georgian features. Closer examination of the trenches in the coming days will tell us more.

Today was Heritage Open Day, and another flagship event for the project. The wonderful Lace Wars chaps were back again, and were even more popular than they were in July. The offer this time included a dig pit for smaller archaeologists, which proved immensely popular, perhaps more so with those to whom the other appeals of the event didn’t speak. The point of crossover was being able to watch the mechanical excavator at work, live. That was a huge hit.

On the other hand, the northern trenches didn’t entirely behave themselves either. Here too, in some cases, the edges of the feature didn’t show themselves readily – and it wasn’t until about 12:30 that we found anything that could be described as a shoreline. However, that situation improved somewhat in the afternoon, and more relevant changes in the archaeology started to become apparent.

The theory, before we started, was that we didn’t know what the edges would look like, but we assumed that they’d be well-built in stone and/or timber. What we’re finding is that, with one exception so far, they’re not, but are soft edges represented by a change in the substrate from silty deposits to ones rich in clay and pebble. Again, an instant reaction (that needs a lot more careful thought and investigation) is that that could well explain the changing shapes of the pond and islands on the various different maps. On the other hand, it's very hard to see how the feature would have been sustained at all with such soft edges. Could edgings have been robbed out when the pond was filled c.1900? That’s the sort of question we’ll want to answer before we’re done.

Meanwhile, we comfort ourselves with General Eisenhower’s words…

Is it that time already?… Treasured Islands! Episode 2, Day 1

Blog 7 9th September 2011

At the very moment when I write this, at Studley Royal there should be a slight rumbling sound in the background as the mechanical excavator rolls off the trailer and trundles through the gardens to start opening up the trenches at Quebec. I have to say that I wasn’t expecting to the feeling the way I do – rather like its Christmas Day. And I sort of wish that I’d had another ten days to get ready.

Thankfully, unlike Christmas, there are lots of other very competent people on hand to take up the strain – especially, Sarah, Alexa, Tessa and Jen at the estate, and Justin and his team from Field Archaeology Specialists – so everything is in place that should be.

But I am still very aware that I’ve been doing less for this project than I’d have liked over the past few months, not least in terms of updating this blog. That’s the life of the NT archaeologist, I fear: those who are old enough might remember the old circus/Variety Hall act where a chap kept 50 plates spinning on the end of vertical bamboo canes. That’s what my job is like (and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The trick, of course, is to make sure that its not the expensive crockery that get’s broken!). Since the last posting there were other Festival of British Archaeology events to run at Nunnington Hall (which managed to secure national and international press coverage) and a number of very interesting things to do on our Housesteads Estate on Hadrian’s Wall. And a family summer holiday to fit in.

And things have been a little bit quieter on the Quebec front. Tessa delivered her amazing “Rubbing shoulders with Georgians” exhibition. The life size cut-outs figures from eighteenth century illustrations were unnervingly human presences – even if, in this week’s strong winds, they showed a surprising (and ungenteel) “Jackass”-style tendency to hurl themselves around the landscape. Justin and his team have processed the survey data, and produced a really accurate map of the site, including reconciliation of the different historic map depictions. I’ll say a little bit more about that in a future Blog (it’s the main thing I’ve been meaning to write about in the past few weeks). We’ve used the map to position the eight trenches we’re going to be excavating over the next fortnight or so, designed to try and find different parts of the shoreline and islands – while also leaving space for the interpretation spaces, and the family activities being run for tomorrow’s Heritage Open Day event. We’re having a dig pit with C18 finds – and the outstanding redcoat re-enactors of Lace Wars are back by popular demand. And Justin will be back with his digger, so that small boys of all ages can enjoy watching a JCB at work as part of the fun.

My turn for dressing up comes on Monday, when I’m leading two tours in the guise of William Aislabie, under the title “Remember Quebec!” – the 12th being the anniversary of the battle, which was once commemorated at the Quebec garden. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to source a small cannon to fire as they did then. Maybe next year?

The excavations open to the public tomorrow, and we’ll be digging every day except Wednesdays and Thursdays between then and Sunday September 25th. Do visit if you can – and please let us know if you’re reading and enjoying this blog.

Mists of time, fogs of war… Treasured Islands! Episode 1, part 2

Blog 6 23rd July 2011

Throbbingly aching feet, from twelve hours standing on them or marching around the property yesterday, were going to be no reason to be “excused duty” today – not that I’d have missed it for the world.

This was always going to the busier of the two days of this first part of the project, even before a much sunnier day dawned. The splendid redcoated re-enactors of Pulteney’s regiment of the Lace Wars society were guaranteed to bring in lots of visitors, in addition to the following we’re already building up online and by word of mouth. I have previously had my reservations about using re-enactors at archaeological events – occasionally they can just be an easy, popularist “fix” to enliven an event while having only limited relevance with the archaeological project itself. However, given both William Aislabie’s role in running the army, and the reports that the Quebec was used in the 18th century to commemorate the battle, the presence of Redcoats today was entirely relevant and fitting to the site. So much for theory – the more relevant practice is that the five of them looked absolutely splendid, really brought the gardens to life, and were brilliant interacting with visitors. We couldn’t have asked for more.

The archaeological aspects of the project also moved into top gear. Ciceley and Robert from Field Archaeology Specialists continued the survey of the interior of the site, regularly interrupted by entrants in “Mr Aislabie’s Patriotic Challenge”. Initially named “Pin the Island on the Garden”, this was a family activity, using copies of the historic mapping to invite young archaeologists to spy out the positions of the French harbour and British gun battery. The family with the closest guess will win a VIP behind the scenes visit to the estate, and lunch as Mr Aislabie’s guests.

Our first archaeological results really started taking shape today. The surface topography of the site really isn’t what might have been expected, and there’s certainly no clear trace of the central large island. This raises a concerning possibility. We’ve been assuming that the pond was simply filled in 1900, implying that the archaeology of the original features should survive relatively untouched, buried beneath the filling layers. But the absence of any sign of the island now raises the possibility that it had its top sliced off, to provide soil for infilling the pond. This is only a possibility at present, one that we’ll need to explore further in September. It’s worth noting, though, that the large Scot’s pine in the centre of the site survived the slicing (if that’s what happened) and it’s hard to see how it could have done so and continued growing happily. I had been assuming that the pine was C18 in date (there are others of that vintage at Studley) but Michael Ridsdale (Head of Landscape) advises that its nineteenth century – though it’s harder to date trees accurately when they’re rooted in waterlogged soil. (The conditions are less favourable and that can slow down growth a lot). Cicely and Robert have now finished their mapping of the trees, so that we can accurately relate the present stock to the position of the islands, which should help with dating.

Elsewhere it looks like the surface undulates fairly irregularly, reflecting the area’s, shall we say “unceremonious” handling in the past century, rather than the remains of anything earlier. However, it’s worth waiting until the topographical survey results are processed and printed out – there may just be subtler features surviving that we didn’t spot on the ground.

Ciceley also produced a first overlay plot of the different historic mappings. It was great fun showing visitors the various historic maps (hand drawn ones of 1831, 1838 and 1870, as well as the OS depictions of 1854, 1892 and 1909) and getting their agreement that they all showed the same arrangement of ponds and islands. One then produced, with a flourish, the overlay plot, showing how very different each representation was from any of the others when it came to precise details. Millimetres of variation on the plans represent metres of variation on the ground – underlining the importance of obtaining the most accurate survey information possible, and then backing it up through excavation – be that to inform restoration or other conservation management of the site.

All in all, this weekend was a great start to the project proper. Like the breeze whipping away the gunpowder smoke from the Redcoats, some of the mists of time have started to thin over the Quebec. Next we’ll need to process the data collected on the last couple of days, and use it to decide on the locations of the trenches that we’ll open in September. Meanwhile, there’s supporting Tessa Goldsmith in the last stages preparing the “Rubbing shoulders with Georgians” exhibition, due to open on the site in August. This weekend’s experience were also really useful for finding out exactly how well the entrances and exits work, knowledge we can build into the final design of the exhibition.

Many, many, thanks to everyone on the staff at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, and to the members of the Lace Wars Society, for working so hard to make the Festival of British Archaeology events at the Quebec such a success.

The day dawns… Treasured Islands! Episode 1

Blog 5 22nd July 2011

After over seven months of active planning (itself following almost two decades of dreaming about getting to grips with the Quebec) we finally made it out onto site today. I did so with a mixture of emotions ranging from the excitement one always feels at the start of a field project, to trepidation over whether all the disparate parts of the event would pull together, and if people would actually enjoy the end result. I needn’t have worried, though doing so had me awake long before the alarm clock went off (which was already set early for the first task – putting out the road signs for the re-enactors to follow in the evening).

It was great to walk onto the site and find it so well prepared by the team at Fountains. One of the Quebec’s abiding characteristics is it inaccessibility, due to the dense tree and shrub growth around it (which the guidebooks tell us it’s had for over two centuries), and the crop of waist high weeds within. The landscape team have worked very hard to bring all that to heel, revealing one of the project’s first surprises – the sheer scale of the area we’re looking at. It took me a little by surprise when I saw it emerging first at a pre-start meeting. The same reaction was shared and commented on again and again today by visitors who know the property well and the volunteer guides, many of whom have known the estate for 30 years or more. So too was the feeling that this was “sacred turf” on which they were not expecting to “intrude” - and it was rather exciting to do so. Even somewhere that they know so well can still produce new surprises.

After setting up the “spare” surveying equipment for visitors to try out, and the plethora of posters, leaflet dispensers and the like, the first “customers” arrived in the shape of the estate Staff Briefing for around 30 staff and volunteers. I couldn’t have had a better warm-up – an audience who share the same passion for Studley Royal, and are knowledgeable enough to really test the quality of what I was saying about Quebec and its setting. Some excellent questions emerged, especially relating to where the Quebec was supposed to be visible from, questions I hadn’t even thought to ask which we can now explore as the project unfolds.

There was also a lot of interest in the “springhead” feature, which we’ve always assumed was part of the C20 concrete pond around the monument pillar. Now its fully exposed again, its clearer that it is built from good quality materials, rather in contrast to the other known works of the Vyner family or the West Riding County Council elsewhere on the estate (both of whom were working with restricted budgets). It isn’t marked on any of the historic maps, but could it be a surviving feature of the Georgian design? Another interesting question to consider.

Justin and Cicely from Field Archaeology Specialists started work on the new topographical survey, which will be fundamental to interpreting the suite of historic map depictions. They kindly agreed to be part of the event’s exhibits, and had their day punctuated by answering questions from visitors (inspired by our “Warning – Live Archaeologists” notices encouraging them to do so).

The afternoon “Digging in the Garden” tour looked at the Quebec project in the broader context of the other archaeological projects that have (or might yet) take place in the gardens at Studley. This was a good reminder of the scope of what’s been learnt over the past two decades, and also how much more there is to learn. It was also a reminder of how relatively little effort we’ve previously put in making the projects accessible previously, and how much there is to be gained from putting that right this time round. Great to meet a really charming group of people who came for the tour and it was probably a good sign that it lasted almost an hour longer than planned. I hope that that meant that they enjoyed themselves, and not just that they were all too polite to say otherwise!

Finally, after a long and busy day, the salve of having beautiful, serene, Fountains (almost) to myself in the early evening, waiting for the Lace Wars re-enactors to arrive – which they do, just when they said they would get here. Hurrah!

So that’s day 1 done, exactly to plan.

Stuff you never see Indiana Jones doing..

I suppose that there are moments in everyone’s jobs that stick in their minds. Mine tend to revolve around those things that I never pictured myself doing while studying archaeology at University and dreaming of a career in the subject.
One of them happened this morning, when I could be spotted lurking about in sheltered corners of the gardens around the NT York Office, Goddards. If an observer had looked more closely, they’d have seen a box of matches in my hand, and growing irritation as another and another blew out in the breeze. Have the pressures of life finally forced me to find comfort in the evil weed? Or was an act of arson, a desperate publicity seeking act to promote “Treasured Islands”, about to happen?
Neither, as it happened. My mission was to set fire to some of my own work, to try out the look of singed versions of the “Treasured Islands” posters – tying into the themed – and hopefully engaging - title for the project. No doubt there’s a clever tool on Photoshop for doing this digitally, but I haven’t find it yet, so had to try the more traditional approach.
The project’s high degree of emphasis on public engagement is something the whole project team is having to learn about as we go. It has very considerable capacity to take up time and energy, but it’s really energising thinking about how to present archaeological research in new ways. Why not popularise what we do? The excitement of archaeological discovery is ever present when we do our investigations, but sometimes hard for people to get at behind the fog of “boffinism”. Giving the project a popular face doesn’t harm its scientific footing for a moment, but should make it accessible to so many more people to enjoy.
Work on the posters is just one of things progressing at the moment. We’re finalising the booking of the eighteenth century re-enactors, “Lace Wars”; the first version of the project’s web pages have been designed and gone live on Fountains Abbey’s website, and there’s lots of progress with the on site exhibition. The original plan of having traditional exhibition panels on a trail through the site (from August into September) has evolved and evolved, into something far more innovative and exciting…..
Now, next to turn to the detail of the family-friendly hands on, surveying related, activity for the Festival of British Archaeology events planned for July 22nd and 23rd.

Solving the mystery of Quebec. Mark Newman, National Trust Archaeologist

Investigating the Archives
7 June 2011

What a great afternoon, thanks to the West Yorkshire Archives Office at Sheepscar in Leeds. That’s where most of the Studley Royal estate records were deposited by the Vyner family in the late 1950s – those that survived the huge fire at Studley Hall in 1946, anyway. The Archives Service are being really helpful and supportive, including allowing us to reproduce images free of charge.

My mission was to take detailed photographs of the three hand-drawn estate maps that the archives hold. The earliest is the 1831 estate map; it is one of the great problems with understanding Studley that this is the earliest map of the garden that exists, drawn at least 150 years after the gardens began. There probably were earlier ones, but those were used until they fell to bits. When are historic maps like buses? When you wait for one to arrive for ages and it’s rapidly followed by another – the next plan dates from just seven years later in 1838, drawn when the government was taking over the rights to medieval Tithes. Finally there’s another estate map drawn in around 1875, providing a link between the first two published Ordnance survey maps of 1852 and 1892.

All of the maps depict Quebec slightly differently. One of our first tasks is going to be to compare the various different depictions and overlay them on the modern OS base. The changes might be the result of mediocre surveying or really represent changes to the feature (following flood damage for example) over time. That’s one of the questions we should be able to answer when we dig in September.

Odd though it seems, hitherto we’ve only had very limited copies of these early maps. We’ve made do with a single black and white photograph of each, taken in 1986. It seems incredible that, although I’ve been working at Studley for almost 23 years, I’ve never seen the things in the flesh before.

They’re perfectly wonderful, covering much more of the surrounding estate than I’d realised before. It’s amazing to use objects actually handled by the people whose history we now work so hard to recover, seeing the places where their fingers wore the sheets thin.
It’s also a revelation that the maps are coloured. This conceals a lot of detail that just disappeared into the black and white photographs. It was particularly exciting to find a whole new depth of information on the paths in the Chinese Garden (and the areas beyond along the Seven Bridges Valley). These have long since vanished on the ground. There’s enough new information to justify a further piece of work clarifying how this little known end of the gardens once operated.

So, we now have the photography we’ll need of the Quebec area, and much else too besides. They really are the treasure maps I thought they would be – rich reward for the aching arms that I’ve got from over three hours of carefully leaning out over the huge, fragile, sheets to take photographs without leaning on them.

Solving the mystery of Quebec. Mark Newman, National Trust Archaeologist

27 May 2011

Fired with enthusiasm from yesterday’s meeting, am today trying to write an article for the World Heritage Site newsletter on the forthcoming project and its motivations. Not quite sure what note to strike: the first version turned out a bit dry and academic, and wouldn’t easily alter – so ended up writing a second full version.

Documentary research never ceases to fascinate me – how texts I’ve been looking at for years still end up capable of providing some new snippet of information one’s always over looked before. It's all down to coming back to the texts asking a slightly different question. An excellent example today, while researching for the newsletter article. I checked what Farrer’s History of Ripon (1801) had to say about Quebec and realised for the first time that its reference to small cannons at the site is in the past tense. I had been under the impression that they were still there in the nineteenth century, and had even wondered if they were a post-Aislabie addition – obviously not. Later guidebooks still include references to them, but there was clearly a lot of cribbing from earlier works going on.

Interesting that the guns went before 1801. In the 20 years prior to this there were other changes in the gardens, mainly relating to increasing numbers of visitors. Perhaps the guns were removed for safety. Maybe they were even pinched!

Solving the mystery of Quebec. Mark Newman, National Trust Archaeologist

26 May 2011

Given that all of this has been so long in the planning, it was surprising what a special day today felt like – the moment when the Green Light finally went on for real.

I’ve been harbouring ambitions for digging in Quebec for probably 20 years now. It’s been such a strange little corner of Studley, although it sounds from the documentary sources that it’s been like that for over two centuries, one way or another.

The logic suggests that there should be really interesting structures surviving on the site. The Marquis of Ripon decision to fill the pond should have sealed the original fabric intact under a good protective layer. I’m not at all clear why he decided to fill it in – the most likely explanation is that, like so much else, it was in declining condition, and the easy option was just to do away with it. That simplifying tendency does characterise so much of his management of the gardens. Not being a fan of imported species myself, I can only be grateful that he didn’t go crazy with rhododendrons as he did on Tent Hill. Given how Quebec floods, if he had there’d be little else growing beside from Skell from here to Ripon!

I wonder what the form of the islands and the ponds will look like. A clay lining seems very likely, and that really should have survived any form of mistreatment. Who knows about the shores though. The perimeter and the islands needn’t be made in the same way, of course. Where we’ve looked at this sort of thing previously, the construction methods have been surprisingly sophisticated – and never the same in any two locations.

The first job today was a site meeting with Justin Garner-Lahire from Field Archaeology Specialists. Justin and FAS have done some excellent work for us previously at Studley, most recently on the Lake Project in 2010. Their expertise will be crucial to this project’s success – and it will be interesting to see how managing an external contractor’s work with visitors, in this level of intensity, will work out.

Much of the rest of the day was spent giving a talk and tour of the gardens to the regular meeting of North Yorkshire Conservation Officers – the latter including talking about the project for the first time publicly.

At 4pm, the last appointment of another busy day at Fountains was the key meeting with Sarah (Conservation Manager), Jen (Visitor Experience and Marketing) and Tessa (Learning and Interpretation). Having designed the project back in the autumn, and then discussed it through the early months of the year, it has recently been reviewed by all key colleagues in the estate – with a certain amount of tweaking in one direction or another. At last we were all able to meet together, and iron out the wrinkles, successfully. The project will now move centre stage, though that’s going to mean a lot of work in the coming weeks.

The idea to include a blog is a great one. The blog for the Dunstanburgh survey was one of the most popular pages ever run by English Heritage. But I do feel a little intimidated. What will people be interested in reading, I wonder? I’ve not been a blog reader so far – obviously I have to start!

I was also really taken with the idea that we should mount the on-site interpretation on panels shaped like figure-silhouettes. The real test of this idea is going to be cost, and production timetable – time is short. Well worth investigating the idea, and an idea to hold in reserve for another occasion even if its not possible this time round.