For generations, the people of Collyweston – a village in central England nestled against the River Welland – have passed down stories of a grand Tudor palace, of royal processions in the valley below, of the mother of a king who had taken up residence there.
For hundreds of years, the stories persisted, even as the memory of where the palace stood faded. But history suddenly came to life when a handful of amateur historians unearthed parts of the long-lost palace buried beneath just a few meters of earth. Historians from the University of York verified their findings.
“We are a small village with a small group of enthusiasts, and what we have achieved here is nothing short of a miracle,” said Chris Close, 49, president of the Collyweston Historical and Preservation Society. “You know, it’s not every day that you get to unearth part of your country’s past.”
Mr Close, soft-spoken and warm with a dimpled smile, grew up in Collyweston, with family roots stretching back 400 years here. He remembers hearing stories about the palace when he was a young boy. It belonged to Lady Margaret Beaufort, who played a major role in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars for the English throne. She acquired it in 1487, two years after her son was crowned king as Henry VII. He, his son Henry VIII and Elizabeth I all walked the corridors of the palace.
After the Tudor era, which ended in 1603, the palace fell into ruin. Its contents were sold, parts demolished or reused and new buildings constructed. The palace slowly crumbled into history, disappearing into dust. Almost.
Fast forward to 2017, when Mr. Close became president of the historical society – somewhat by chance. History was never his passion, but he had promised his great-uncle, who once led the group, to help him continue. A year after his great-uncle’s death, he kept his promise.
Mr Close – who works by day for a British company that builds new homes – took over at a precarious time. The group’s membership, then mostly retirees, had dwindled and only 500 pounds, or about $635, remained in the bank. The meetings were spent reviewing old Collyweston files with little mission, and the few members considering closure. Mr Close knew he had to inject some energy into the proceedings.
He moved the company’s newsletter to email instead of print. He created accounts on social networks. And most importantly, he asked members what they really wanted to focus on. The answer was clear: they wanted to find the Tudor Palace.
The villagers suspected the remains were hidden underground, but with limited expertise and even less money, they had little with which to do anything.
“It was our naivety that got us through it, really,” Mr. Close said with a laugh.
First, they relied on what little they knew of the palace’s history, including local traditions that had been prevalent for years.
Today, Collyweston, with a population of 564, is little more than a few pretty stone houses with picturesque views over vast fields. But glimpses of royal history were visible to anyone who looked closely, said Sandra Johnson, 68, a retired real estate agent who now does research full time for the historical society – while helping to care for her grandchildren.
She noted that local residents had long called a walled garden in the area the “palace gardens” and that some terraces and fish ponds could still be seen carved into the landscape.
“We knew it was here,” she said, a wide smile growing on her face. “It was just about getting the evidence to prove it.”
For several months, the group looked through old maps and documents. This only got them so far.
Around this time, the group connected with Dr. Rachel Delman, now a historian at Oxford University, who was then researching the palace. Her work provides detailed descriptions of the palace buildings that she had found in various historical archives.
The research was “a little light that was shed on the project,” Mr. Close said.
But amateur historians soon realized that archeology had become a high-tech activity and that they too had to embrace technology. They applied for grants and got enough money to hire a company to do a drone survey and geophysical analysis of the village. The growing buzz in Collyweston around their activities has helped attract new members.
The real breakthrough came from ground-penetrating radar scans carried out in 2021 and 2022, which revealed artificial materials beneath the ground. This guided them on where to dig.
Last May, they found the first remains of the palace walls: parts of the clearly defined base of a thick wall and a foundation that experts later verified.
The goal is to eventually find enough artifacts to analyze and date. The group hopes to create a digital model of the palace which will be displayed in a small museum that Ms Johnson runs in the nave of the village church.
Although finds from this era are not particularly unusual in Britain, historians have welcomed the discovery because of the important role the palace played in its time – and because it was discovered by a group of amateurs.
Professor Kate Giles, a historian at the University of York, pointed out that Britain has a multitude of local history societies, but that in the case of Collyweston, “the fact that it has a Tudor palace in its door makes his work particularly interesting.” and exciting.
Dr Delman, whose research helped launch the hunt, said the discovery had the potential to enrich public knowledge of an ancient royal power base, commanded by a Tudor woman, “making it a site of national and international importance.
In early February, volunteers brought out their shovels for a two-day dig, one of several planned this year, to better understand what the palace looked like.
At the end of an alley on a small patch of grass, a dozen residents – including young professionals, parents, a former prison guard and several retirees – dug four small trenches demarcated by a rope under the eye watchful of Jennifer Browning, 50, an archaeologist from the University of Leicester Archaeological Services who was hired to lead the excavation that day.
In one trench, earth was carefully brushed over what appeared to be flagstone flooring and foundation stones. In another, part of a wall had begun to emerge.
“We just don’t know exactly what they are, but they’re supposed to be there,” Ms. Browning said, standing over a 3-by-5-foot trench and pointing to three large stones lined up with accuracy about two feet lower. “The problem is that in a small trench like this you only get a small snapshot.”
So far, the excavations have taken place on private land and, although the site is considered a historic monument, English law does not give the public the right to access it. The group had permission from landowners to explore with trenches and then backfill, but they had a narrow weekend window because the owners planned to pave this grassy expanse soon.
“It’s just interesting to see how it’s all going to come together,” said James Mabbitt, 42, a volunteer who has lived in Collyweston for a decade, as he stood in a trench, measuring stones dating back possibly from Tudor times.
His wife, Melissa, 43, and their young daughter were walking, accompanied by other villagers curious about the work. “For a small place, it has an incredible history,” Ms Mabbitt said, enthusiasm in her voice. She noted that ancient Roman ruins had also recently been discovered nearby. “I think it captured the spirit of the local community.”
In the late afternoon, volunteers took a break for snacks and cups of tea while discussing their findings. Mr Close congratulated them on discovering “the clearest evidence yet” of the palace buildings.
“I was asked, ‘Why are you getting involved in something like this?’ “, did he declare. “Look, one day when everyone leaves this world, you can say you helped find a Tudor palace.”
News Source : www.nytimes.com
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