Richmond archaeologists came face to face with the Conqueror

The castle’s anniversary in 2021, although inconvenienced by Covid, featured celebrations, re-enactments and exhibitions as well as pigeon-racing, tree-planting, beer-brewing and plenty of digging for the past, all of which are documented in the book compiled by the Richmond and District Civic Society.

One of the key chapters tells of the community archaeological investigations at the castle itself.

Volunteer archaeologists at Richmond castle. Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT.

Although the castle has dominated Richmond since Alan Rufus began work on it in 1071, not much is known about what actually remains beneath the ground, and even the ruins above the ground may not be what they seem.

In the middle of the last century, tumbledown historic properties were taken on by a government agency and stabilised.

“The Ministry of Works consolidated as much as it ‘restored’ and, as the team came to appreciate during the course of the Richmond excavations, they invented many things as well,” says the chapter, which has been compiled from a talk given to the society in November 2021 by Jim Brightman, who led the dig.

It took place in July 2021 with volunteers from around the world taking part.

One of the trenches they opened up was beneath Scolland’s Hall, which could be England’s oldest stone-built house. It was begun in the 1080s with Count Alan’s great hall and apartments on the first floor. The trench revealed that a previously unknown building had stood beside the hall. Theories were that it was an exercising circle for horses, or perhaps a grandstand from which to watch jousting on the riverside field below, but in the end it was concluded that it had been a place where different materials were collected, perhaps so Alan could collect his taxes.

Animal bones found by archaeologists at Richmond Castle

Another trench revealed a lot of butchered animal bones of pigs, cows and exotic birds like cranes – in the southern states of the US, where beef is adored, the crane is known as “the ribeye of the sky”.

“This bizarre diet seemed to show peasants working in a rough, timber-roofed building, doing the dirty job of butchering exotic animals for the lord’s table,” said Mr Brightman, a Richmond School old boy. “It provided a lovely dichotomy of both sides of life in the castle, from the very highest to the very lowest.”

A trench through time: on the bottom layer nearest the camera is the medieval flagged floor, then comes a layer of rubble and soil which collected from the 15th Century as the castle decayed; then is a layer of thick yellow clay which Victorians imported as the foundations for their barracks; above that is a grey stone layer of the remains of the barracks, all of which is topped by today's lawn. Picture courtesy of Solstice Heritage

A third trench was a real trench in time, and reminded the diggers that although the castle is 950 years old, it has an important history from Victorian times, when it was a major barracks, and the First World War, when conscientious objectors were imprisoned in its cells.

This trench exposed all the layers of usage with a thick yellow clay, which the Victorians imported to form a stable foundation for their barracks, lying on top of the medieval flagged floor.

One of the star finds was a jeton (above), a type of coin, with a Moor’s head on it. It was minted in France around 1350.

“Jetons were used as trade counters or tokens on a counting board,” said Mr Brightman. “Sometimes they were used for accounting. It was a really beautiful find. The dig was beginning to reveal something of the high status nature of Richmond Castle.

“To find items that had come from across the European world reinforced the picture of the castle as a seat of power, a cosmopolitan hub of trade in northern England.”

But the best find came, as luck would have it, when the Digging for Britain TV cameras were on site with presenter Professor Alice Roberts. As she was examining finds of pottery and bones, volunteer archaeologist Mandy Burns came “charging” over with news that a rare coin had come to light.

“It was a beautiful silver penny with the face of William the Conqueror on it,” said Mr Brightman. “It took the evidence right back to the start of the castle’s story.

Staring into the face of William the Conqueror: a 950-year-old Pax Penny found in the 950-year-old castle. Picture courtesy of Solstice Heritage

“This valuable coin, which must have dropped out of a pocket, is known as a “Pax Penny” from the Latin word for peace engraved on one side.

“Such coins were normally minted at the start of a monarch’s reign as a promise of peace, or after a monarch had quashed a rebellion against their rule. Unfortunately, the coin is too corroded to know its specific mint, but it could have been minted shortly after the Conquest in the late 1060s, or just after the Harrying of the North (1069-70) when William quashed the northern rebellion.

“In either case, this was at the start of William’s reign, right at the time the castle was being built. It provides a fabulous window into the beginning of the castle story. Before the keep had been byilt and before the Normans had fully established their authority, they were butchering exotic animals for the tables of lords Alan Rufus and (his younger brother) Alan Niger in this building and someone dropped this silver penny.”

The new book (above), entitled 950th Review, features chapters on the history of the castle and the romantic story of Gunnhild, the daughter of King Harold who became Alan Rufus’ lover, plus also on Richmond’s landscape, artists, horseracing and its theatre. It costs £10, and is available from Richmond Information Centre in the covered market and Castle Hill Bookshop.

It is also available from civic society meetings, the next of which is at 7.30am on Wednesday, November 2, in the Methodist Church in Queen Street when, by happy coincidence, the speaker will be Chris Lloyd, who compiles these notes, talking about A Year in Darlo. Admission to non-members is £5.

A glorious picture of Richmond castle in the 1950s, with a Darlington-registered car pulling slowly up Sleegill to Holly Hill