Day 20

At last the 30th is here, the day of the big open day! We didn't know what to expect today, but it was a great success! We started off by having the BBC here who did a live broadcast for Radio 1 to advertise the Open Day. It was a great help as we had over 60 people come from the local area! A lot came with their own memories of the site and varying age groups, which is always nice to see. We had lots of interest in our pull up displays which I am very pleased with as I put a lot of effort into them. The students couldn't be split into groups like before so it was all very casual with tours, luckily we had the help of Megan, a local girl who offered to do the welsh tours for us. This was very handy as we had a lot of Welsh speakers come to the open day. I feel it went very well and everyone got a tour. We were also visited by a local woman who had photographs of the Lower House from 1990, it serves as a good document of how the site has degraded over the last 20 years, so we were glad to have them.

Day 19

The students really felt the burn today. Lots of things to do on what is technically their last day. Some again were cleaning finds and others were recording their trenches and filling in the completed ones for next year. There's lots to do though and I think it might have to run into tomorrow's open day. This would be unideal but on the other hand, it is nice for the visitors to see what work goes on at an archaeological dig. Antonia Dewhurst also came today to give a talk about her photography and art projects that she has going on. I really liked the talk as I myself am really into the technical aspects of photography.

We all then went to Aberdunant to enjoy an end of dig meal, Antonia also came along! Aberdunant was actually where the last Brynker, Jane Brynker died in 1760. So its a very relevant place to eat!

Day 18

There are lots of finds to wash and sort! Some students got on with cleaning their finds. While others got on with digging and recording their trenches. Trench C was photographed as more of the wall was uncovered. We are unsure what is is as it also looks like a quarry! S the students started scraping it clean.

Day 17

Today the pressure is rising to get things done. Jess and Louise got on with their profile drawings of Trench E. We seem to have found a wall in Trench C as Harriet and Cat have uncovered! The rest worked avidly to clear and document their trenches in preparation for the upcoming open day!

Day 16

Today was very hard work. Under Mark's supervision, Jay and Louise did a stone survey. Recordings were also done in Trench H with Harriet and Cat working on profile drawings. Jess was clearing Trench E today. Even I got down on site and had a go at clearing the trees with David inside the Lower House, to stop the overgrowth and hopefully kill it off. Culling the trees is very important to conserving the ruins as the roots destroy the building's foundations and roots and ivy grow through the mortar, so its pretty important to sort that issue! We also cleared the pathways to give better and safer access for the visitors at the open day on the 31st. The students were later visited by Dilwyn, an archivist who gave a talk on the history of the area and spoke of the various influential families and Welsh Houses of importance in the area. We later yet again tried to get inside Llanfihangel-y-Pennant to see the various artefacts but were unsuccessful.

Day 15

Its a sad time when a trench gets filled in. Trench G was showing very few results and was filled in, I suppose it was for the best though. Alex and James recorded it, photographed it, planned and sectioned the Trench before burying it. They then moved down to Trench D at the Lower House and continued on with that as we were concious that the secondary school students might want to use the archery range, however they have yet to use it. In the mean time, Trench H was recorded by Chloe and Cat. Nothing much exciting in regards to find as of yet however. I'm sure there will be soon though, got to keep up the morale and go through it. We saw Ceri again today, she came with more reproduction artworks of the Lower House and arranged with Mark to have a reproduction image of the Upper House detailing the gatehouse in around 1700. Really excited to see what she makes!

Day 14

Today was an Open Day for two local societies, the Welsh Historic Garden's Trust (WHGT) and the Council for the Protection of Rural Wales (CPRW). The students were very nervous and we were expecting figures of 40 or so people! Mark took the nervous students around the site to remind them of the various features to point out when giving a guided tour. They were divided into 4 groups, 2 students in each one, each starting in a different location and moving like clock work around the site in 15 minute slots. It was pretty manic, but very successful indeed! We had good feedback and the students seemed pretty proud of what they had accomplished. We are also sharing the hostel with a group of secondary school students, so its all pretty packed! They seem nice though and are pretty friendly.

Day 13

We were visited by a representative of the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust who came to make sure that the site was being managed in a proper manner. We passed and were very happy to hear that we are doing really well. It's always nice to be complimented for good work. The students had some exciting finds including a stretch of cobbled flooring which has stump posts. It's very interesting and is possibly a medieval feature which surprisingly was only just under the surface. You can see a drain pipe too which was put in there in the 1940s which unfortunately means that some of the flooring was destroyed to fit this in. The students also found some 17th Century glazed pottery, which is a very early find! Although in my opinion, the best find was a foundation stone of the Upper House, otherwise known as a Basel Stone which was found in Trench E. The Students in Trench F spent their time cleaning stones. The evidence found so far at Brynkir is suggesting that the Archery Range at the Upper House is where the Hunting Lodge for the Deer Park was. We have also been researching into the written texts of Brynkir and have had some transcriptions done by students who wanted to do indoor work and have found evidence to suggest that the Lower House was built onto an earlier structure, which William Huddart recalled. We also found references of the Greaves family referring to the Lower House as the "Tudor Building". It's all very exciting and it gave Mark a lot to talk about in his lecture which he gave to the students in preparation for tomorrow's open day!