A SERIES of key discoveries made by a Stroud archaeologist have led to a work being nominated for a prestigious national award.

The project, at Dulverton House, adjacent to Gloucester Cathedral, which has been nominated in the ‘Best Rescue Archaeology Project’ category in an online public vote, has revealed a fascinating history dating back to the 12th century.

Refurbishment work to create a new Sixth Form Centre for The King’s School meant that archaeologists from Gloucestershire specialists Urban Archaeology were given the chance to literally peel back the layers of history, dismantling internal walls and digging trenches for new services and floors.

Stroud News and Journal:

Lead Archaeologist Chiz Harward, from Stroud, said: ‘Working on Dulverton was certainly challenging. 

"Most archaeologists work on buried remains, but here we had a 3D puzzle both above and below ground.

"It required a lot of care to unpick and make sense of a very complex history.

"Peeling off those layers was like releasing the history, allowing the buildings to breathe and tell their story."

Dulverton House was built in around 1320 as a lodging for the senior monk at St Peter’s abbey (now the Cathedral) who ran the Infirmary.

The excavation and building works revealed bones from the floor showing that the residents dined on a wide range of fish and mammals as well as faces of medieval carved figures, burnt ‘taper marks’ on the timberwork and a set of six tiny pentangles scratched into plaster, probably left to ward off evil and protect the building.

Dulverton House was taken on by The King’s School in 1957 as a boarding house and now houses the Sixth Form Centre.

The project is nominated for the ‘Best Rescue Archaeology Project’ in the Current Archaeology Awards which highlight some of the very best archaeology projects carried out in the UK. 

The awards are open to a public vote, and you can vote for this Gloucester history project here: https://archaeology.co.uk/vote.