More historical secrets discovered at Shrewsbury Castle dig

Day four and five of the dig, undertaken by Shrewsbury Castle Project volunteers, proved just as interesting as its predecessors as volunteers found another American medicine bottle and the floor of a Victorian glasshouse was revealed.

Dr Morn Capper, one of the volunteers, said a curious lime-filled feature they found on Monday ended up being quite a mystery, but soon led them to discover the missing floor of the glasshouse structure.

"Among the finds was another American medicine bottle, this time a 1oz amber coloured glass bottle from the early 20th century, likely from the last few years before the castle was given into public use," said Dr Capper.

"This clue matches with some footage I had discovered in the Pathe archive which shows that when the site was handed over in 1926 the site of the glasshouse was already a flowerbed.

"The appearance of the glasshouse in use at the castle still remains a mystery, despite given the many catches and mechanisms in the metalwork from yesterday.

"Once our lime feature had been recorded, we could begin removal of floor layers. We soon established a series of steps leading down from the doorsill discovered yesterday.

"But where there seemed to be layers that might be a gravel floor in some places, a mix of large rocks had seemingly been dumped into the centre of the structure from the foot of the steps, probably at the time it finally went out of use.

"A careful prod at the edge of the lime pit, however, soon provided answers as the original floor of the glasshouse was revealed."

On day five, the team's objective was to continue downward in the trench to the depth of the glasshouse floor, exposing the tiles.

Zoe Arthurs, one of the volunteers, said: "There has been a lot of builders backfill coming out of the trench today, with a huge amount of what seems to be potentially either a bathtub or urinal used as rubble.

"One of our eagle-eyed student volunteers has spotted a maker’s stamp on the porcelain and so is hoping to establish the company and what this feature may be in the coming days.

"In the finds tent, the sorting crew have been washing and tagging the various objects coming up from the trench. There is a running theme of animal bones, oyster shells and the odd beer and medicine bottle, which suggest casual waste disposal.

"Plenty of glass fragments need to be handled carefully and we have the familiar clay pipe stems. We had the chance to take a closer look at two trays of metal hardware from our glasshouse, ranging from small nails to brackets, hinges and hooks.

"The finds table proved very popular with visitors to the castle, folks from Worcester and Coventry having made special visits to come and see the wonderful work being done after seeing the dig advertised in the media.

"We also welcomed many locals and young families, all craning to take a look at what was being discovered.

"There is a fantastic public enthusiasm for this work, and it seems the spirit of discovery has motivated many people to make return visits to check on the progress of the dig."

The team hopes to be able to begin further excavation beyond the floor in search of the much earlier medieval chapel ruins which can be seen on the 16th Century Burghley Map of Shrewsbury.