Welsh Journals

EXCAVATIONS* Servants' Hall (room 12) Excavation was carried out in February 1984 in advance of the laying of a new concrete floor. Prior to the commencement of the excavation a slate floor had been removed but not recorded. An area at the south-west end of the room (Fig. 1) was examined. The walls of the room are of brick except that to the south-west which is a broad masonry wall against which alcoves have been formed in brick. The Servants' Hall is at the equivalent depth of the basement level below the castle. The stratigraphic sequence was as follows (Fig. 2). Masonry rubble (14) had been deposited into the area, tipping down at a natural angle of rest to the north-west, whose depth could not be established. This was capped with red clay (12) forming a level surface. Both the rubble and clay had been cut through to enable the construction of a mortared masonry wall (9) aligned north- east south-west, which butted against the masonry wall of the room to the south-west. Below the level of the clay (12) the wall was of ragged construction, rising above as a narrow faced wall surviving to two courses. The trench, whose bottom could not be excavated, had been filled with a mixture of clay and rubble (11). The south-western wall of the room continues downward as a vertical, faced wall, below the extent of the excavation. The area to the south-east of the wall (9) received a fine soil (6) with much iron staining and domestic rubbish, on which was layed a flagstone floor 83) in the central area of the room, which was very worn, and whose surface was extended further in mortar (5). On this had been deposited mortar and plaster dust and brick rubble (2) forming the bedding for a slate floor (1) which formed the most recent floor/surface of the Hall. The construction of the south-western masonry wall in the area of the Servants' Hall did not appear to have required breaking through the excavated wall (9), suggesting the latter was built against it, although this relationship was not demonstrated stratigraphically. The area now occupied by the Servants' Hall was filled with rubble, which later needed to be retained by the wall (9), built in what would appear to have been an open space. The retaining wall had bowed outwards to the north-west as a result of the weight behind it. On the castle plan of 1752 this area was occupied by a two-roomed structure, built in the outside angle formed by the outside wall of the medieval hall and a wall to the south-west which formed part of a larger masonry structure (Fig. 3). The easterly of the two rooms conforms precisely to that of the present Servants' Hall. This building, like its neighbours, according to the plan, had been burnt down and the brick construction of the present room suggests that it is a later rebuilding on the alignment of the building which had previously suffered in the conflagration. The retaining wall (9), and whatever structure stood on it. presumably pre-date the burnt building shown on the map of 1752. The backfilling of the trench (11) created for the construction of the retaining wall contained ceramic material of the seventeenth century. The rubbish deposit (6) below the first surviving 'floor' contained a similar range of ceramics and clay tobacco-pipes dated to the period c. 1650-1675. SThe writer is grateful to Mr. N. Williams. National Trust, for permission to carry out this work and to Mr. Arthur Baldwin for offering so much encouragement and assistance, and for drawing attention to many of the details reported here. The excavations were carried out by students of the Department of Extra-mural Studies, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.