Page 35 - John Barber's Oakham Castle and its archaeology

Trodden into the floor we found some egg shells and
skeleton of a carp (no doubt reared in the Castle’s own fish
stews). Also discovered in this area was a pierced skimmer with
the handle missing (see also Postscript).
There is nothing to show what the roof of the buttery/pantry
complex looked like, but it was probably attached to the hall by
a plate-beam, as was the solar at the west end, and a roof
sloping downwards from west to east. There is nothing to show
whether it was a one-storey or a two-storey building, but the
former seems more likely. It would have been low enough not
to have obscured the large Norman window, wherever it may
originally have been sited, but the late 16th century window can
only have been added when the buttery/pantry complex was
already in some state of decay or even dismantled.
Diagram A [fig. 40] shows the three trenches in relation to
one another and the extent of the excavations, all delineated in
blue, whilst diagram B [fig. 51] shows the new discoveries in
relation to the existing hall. The pottery in general covers a span
from the late 12th century to the early 14th century, and consists
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mostly of late Stamford ware and St Neots ware.

Fig. 49. View along trench No 3
(J L Barber Archive, Rutland County Museum).

Para 8: ‘TWO STABLES AND ONE GRANGE FOR HAY’
Far too little work has been done on the Castle demesne to make the location of such places anything but
guesswork. It is unlikely that they would be joined onto the main building any more than the kitchen. Such
places as stables and a grange for hay are likely to have been situated somewhere to the east of the Castle, as far
removed from the solar and hall as possible. There are plenty of humps and hollows covering the probable site
of such outbuildings, whilst the fall in the level
of the ground within the inner bailey from west
to east is further argument for the buildings,
whether in stone or in wood, having stood in the
general area east of the kitchen. I might at this
point add a warning to future investigators,
namely that the conformation of the ground to
the east of the hall is probably a reasonably
accurate indication of what lies beneath,
EXCEPT that at one time earlier in the present
century, the ground immediately to the east of
the kitchen was levelled out to form a tennis
court, whose outline can still be recognised.

Fig. 50. The former tennis court at Oakham Castle
(Jack Hart Collection, Rutland County Museum).

Para 9: ‘ONE HOUSE FOR PRISONERS’ and ‘ONE CHAMBER FOR THE PORTER’
The fact that the gaol or dungeon is described as a ‘house for prisoners’ makes it likely that it was a free-
standing building, possibly also containing ‘one chamber for the porter’, who might likewise have been the
janitor. This building might well have been close to the main gate, and Mr Gathercole’s excavations, though
carried out in a very limited area and much hampered by the disturbed nature of the ground around the Castle
entrance, brought to light an oven there. It is just possible that the building, to which the oven belonged, and
which was levelled out (in the general tidying up to which I have several times alluded) was none other than
‘one house for prisoners’ or ‘one chamber for the porter’, or even both these things.

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Actually Stamford and Lyveden Stanion / Coarse Shelly Ware: the pottery is described by Deborah Sawday in Appendix A.
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