A team of archaeologists from the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) are conducting a project to find traces of Whitecross Manor that stood in the town of Lydney, England.
Whitecross Manor was constructed during the 1570’s for the English mariner and landowner, Admiral Sir William Wyntour. William Wyntour was a sponsor of Sir Francis Drake’s voyages, including Drake’s circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580.
Historical records describe how Whitecross Manor was burnt to the ground in 1645 by Sir John Wyntour to prevent being captured by Parliamentarian forces during the English Civil War (1642 – 1651). A court case from 1597 also describes how a black servant, Edward Swarthe, was whipped in the Great Hall of the Manor before a crowd assembled by a certain John Guy.
The manor was situated at the playing fields of Dean Academy (formerly Whitecross School), where RAU archaeologists led by Professor Mark Horton have been conducting a geophysical studying using ground penetrating radar and a magnetometry survey.
According to an RAU press statement, the team have been mapping the manor’s buried walls and located many of the outbuildings and wells. They are also hoping to find evidence of how the surrounding gardens and walls were fortified during the Civil War.
Professor Horton said: “This site was originally investigated in the 1970s and mid-1980s, as well as briefly in 2003, but many of the early finds were sold or dispersed before the Dean Heritage Centre opened and there are few records of the previous archaeological investigations.
The project, involving students from the RAU’s Cultural Heritage Institute (based at the University of Swindon) is reaching out to the public to find any objects or information related to the manor in the local community. Several items from the manor have been previously sold in auction, including a near complete Elizabethan rapier, and numerous potsherds and pipe fragments.
Professor Mark Horton, said: “We know that many Whitecross School students took part in previous site digs and they may have information and artefacts. We have already met some who were very helpful and had a pipe from the 1660s but we would be really pleased to hear from anyone who has anything connected to this site.”
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Sources : Royal Agricultural University (RAU)
