Hey, Let's Tunnel Our Way In To The Prison

Sounds like a plan …

Hell, the wall's only ten feet thick; hand me that unfeasibly small hammer.

And lo, they tunneled their way into the prison to find that it had ceased to be a prison a-hundred-and-fifty years ago.

We've been removing Boardman's floor to reveal the full volume of the keep.

See that door way up there on the right, with the fire exit sign? That's the original doorway into the Great Hall and pretty soon it will be restored to its original use.

You can make out the floor level of the Great Hall running round the keep walls.

And way over yonder, that big dark arched opening is the kitchen fireplace at the other end of the Great Hall. That's the door to the garderobes to the left and above those will be the minstrels' gallery.

That huge stone arch shape was going to support the main floor as part of William Rufus' original build in 1086 but it was abandoned when the east wall began to fall down the mound and was replaced with a massive spine wall (see the first couple of posts in the Norwich Castle link).

Just the other side of the three yellow guys is another yellow guy who's just crawled through the re-opened doorway in the top photo. That will be the main entrance to the archæological display area.

Tim, Gabriela and Erin wander off in search of coffee …

Nearly all the stripping out and archæological investigations have been done; it'll soon be time to start putting the Royal Palace of Henry the First back to how it should be. 

 

More to come … Don't miss it!