Audley End, Artefact Biography and the English Country House
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2019-07-25

This paper explores the potential of archaeological materials for the research and interpretation of the English post-medieval country house. Country house excavations are rare, yet large quantities of material from projects in the 20th century sit forgotten in the archives of heritage bodies and private trusts. A good example of this is Audley End (Essex), a Jacobean mansion, royal palace, and ultimately an English Heritage property. Its garden was excavated in the 1980s, revealing successive structural alterations and an incredible array of ceramics, organics, and building materials, yet this project has never been published and does not inform how the house is displayed. This paper explores how research into the archive, including the biographical study of the original project, could change understanding of the country house, with wider implications for how we could use archaeological archives when interpreting heritage buildings for the general public.

Cait Scott (University of Sheffield)

TAG Deva 2018
Session: Fighting for our Finds from Discovery to Display