Paul Thompson chose….
Archaeological Archive from Lady Herbert's Garden 2002

Everyone is familiar with archaeological excavation but what happens to the finds and results after the dig? The finds are examined, boxed up in storage, and then a report is written up. Some of the material may not even be displayed.

These finds are from a small trench dug to look at a section of ditch outside the city walls. Lady Herbert's Garden surrounds the best stretch of preserved city wall to be seen today. It is between Cook Street & Swanswell gates.

Often such small trenches are behind fencing or hoarding and they do not attract the public attention of major sites or those with spectacular finds. All the same they help fill in the missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that is our heritage.

Paul Thompson is Keeper of Collections at the Herbert

What the curator says:

Archaeological Archive from Lady Herbert's Garden 2002

Archaeology produces many finds that are important but not suitable for display. This material has research potential and needs to be retained by museums like the Herbert as a complete archive of what was going on in a particular part of the city.

The trench showed there was a clay bank forming the north-east side of the ditch. This clay collapsed into the ditch in the 1600s, probably part of King Charles II 'slighting' the walls in 1662 as the city supported Parliament during the civil war. The ditch was finally filled in along this stretch in the 1700s with rubble.

1. 1400s pottery made at Nuneaton
2. Pig and sheep animal bones
3. Metal working slag
4. Post-medieval pottery sherds