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Summary

In 1519 onwards part of the chamber block at the west end of the Great Hall was rebuilt as Denton's Commons.

Monument Type(s):

• BUILDING (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1519 AD to 1895 AD?)
• HOUSE (Post Medieval - 1674 AD to 1859 AD)

Description

In 1519 onwards part of the chamber block at the west end of the Great Hall was rebuilt as Denton's Commons. This building was completely demolished by 1895. A ground plan of Dentons Common was produced in c. 1895<1>.

An archaeological excavation was carried out in 2006 at the Lower Ward at Windsor Castle in and around the courtyard area just north of St. Georges Chapel. The excavation included one trench which was located within the main area of the former 16th century Denton’s Commons building that had been demolished by 1895. A thick demolition deposit of red brick, mortar and chalk was revealed comprising the demolished remains of the former Denton’s Commons building. Once this demolition rubble was removed, several significant features became exposed. These included 16th century red brick wall foundations including the remains of a former spiral staircase associated with the former Dentons Commons building and a pier base. The stairwell once held a wooden spiral staircase. Although the stairwell was filled with demolition rubble it was clear that although demolished, the foundation remains were still present and in a good state of preservation. Also revealed were the remains of earlier chalk walls likely associated with the chamber block section of the 12th-13th century Great Hall. These showed that part of this section of Denton’s Commons had been incorporated into a series of existing walls. The excavation seemed to confirm the position of all the walls as drawn on Knutts plan of 1895 as shown in Hopes publication of 1913 <2>.

A watching brief was carried out in 2018 in Denton’s Commons. This revealed the position of the house known as No. 9, demolished in 1859. In Trench 7, this comprised coursed brickwork at a depth of 400mm below the surface (c. 43.65m aOD). The bricks measured 220 x 104 x 53mm and were of a red fired clay. They lacked frogs and were set in grey lime mortar. An eighteenth/nineteenth-century date seemed likely based on the dimensions and character of the brick. The brickwork could be associated with a boundary wall of the house which occupied this site from the later seventeenth century until 1859.

In Trench 14 brickwork was again revealed at 100mm below the surface, but this was well bonded, with a definite face on the south side. The mortar was a yellowish lime mortar, rather gritty. A sample brick measured 225 x 107 x 54mm, which is similar to the brickwork observed in the trench above. The wall face corresponded closely with the south face of No. 9 in the Chapter House area as shown in James Whitfield’s plan of 1859. The rubble against the south face of the wall included a fragment of a limestone floor slab at 400m below the surface, amorphous fragments of chalk, and brick fragments. This probably comprises demolition debris from 1859.

No features were seen that might relate to the medieval chapter house, suggesting either that its footings were completely obliterated by the construction of No. 9 or that they lie deeper below the surface <3>.

<1> W.H. St John Hope, 1913, Windsor Castle, An Architectural History (Bibliographic reference). SRW12714.

<2> Cambrian Archaeological Projects Ltd, 2007, Windsor Castle, Lower Ward, Denton's Commons (Unpublished document). SRM14191.

<3> Dr. John Crook, 2018, College of St George, Windsor - Archaeological Report on a watching brief (Unpublished document). SRM15534.

Sources

Designations

• Scheduled Monument 1006996: Windsor Castle

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