Visitors to Castle Cornet will get a glimpse of its hidden past
The archaeological dig at Castle Cornet will now become a temporary part of the visitor attraction.
The dig at Prisoners’ Walk in the heart of the castle was due to be completed in three weeks, but is now entering week six.
States Archaeologist Phil De Jersey and his team have been excavating what is believed to be a drawbridge pit at the castle’s original entrance and have finally reached bedrock almost three metres down.
He said they hoped to finish the dig phase of the excavation by the end of this week.
‘We have at least two weeks left on site,’ he said.
‘Firstly to finish excavating but then recording, then refilling and compacting the spoil down before the area is eventually resurfaced.’
The castle reopens on Wednesday when the team will find themselves on public display, but Dr De Jersey said they were all looking forward to it.
‘Part of the job is explaining and educating and it will be great to tell people a little bit about what we have been doing,’ he said.
‘Visitors will also get a glimpse of a piece of the original castle that has been hidden for hundreds of years.’
The drawbridge would have dated from the late 13th Century and structures the team have found in the castle walls have supported the theory that there was once one employed here.
Dr De Jersey said they that had included two vertical slots down either wall.
‘We have also found an obvious gap in the stonework, which could have supported a pivot mechanism,’ he said.
‘We now need to speak to a castle expert on how exactly this would have worked.’
Among the finds in the drawbridge pit are evidence of the castle’s military past, with around a dozen tennis ball-sized, locally-made granite cannonballs, and one iron golf ball sized ‘shot’ from the 18th Century.
‘We have also found some huge round beach stones, the size of beach balls,’ he said.
‘We can’t be sure but they were probably projectiles thrown at the castle or rocks they had collected to be used as projectiles.’
Dr De Jersey added that although the dig had thrown up some important finds, it had been one of the dirtiest and most challenging he had ever worked on.
‘We are now so deep we have to take the soil out by buckets tied to a rope, and use ladders which are always getting in the way,’ he said. ‘It is very wet and heavy soil, as the water seeps in from everywhere and it never dries out. In truth it has driven me to moisturiser.’
