One section of shore, closest to Piety Walk, did have stone revetting, though. Just downslope from the stonework we found a large square posthole – perhaps connected with the 1730s reference to a drawbridge. It seems that this part of the pond was treated rather differently from other areas, as the main point of access to the feature.
The southern end of the site had another, unhelpful, surprise in store for us. It looks like large parts of this area were dug out – perhaps as a smaller but deeper pond – destroying any remains of the Georgian features. This deeper pond was filled in again shortly afterwards, probably in the 1930s. This all happened between the different pre-1950s map editions, and had left no other record known to us – and interesting example of archaeology being the only way of discovering the story of even relatively recent times.
There’s still a fair bit of analysis to do on the results, which will take place
in the next few weeks. Then there’s another phase of excavation – across the path
between Quebec and the Reservoir – to follow in November.
