Following successful seasons of excavation in Motcombe Gardens in 2013, 2018, 2019 (and a brief project in 2020 abandoned after a week due to Covid-19 lockdown in March) July 2021 marks the final phase of the NLHF project to better understand and interpret the archaeology of the gardens.
These investigations have shown that the site has been used as part of a farm and manor complex from the mid-C14th at least. The majority of the physical archaeology surviving has related to the early C19th – early C20th use of the site as a yard of Motcombe Farm with the Dovecote itself likely to be the only evidence of the early phases.
Although the Dovecote in Motcombe Gardens is hundreds of years old, a decade of archaeological projects have shown that the landscape around it has changed dramatically.
For much of this time it was the heart of a bustling farm.
The flint Dovecote is a place for hundreds of pigeons to nest and breed - in other words a self contained bird-farm! The young pigeons were taken for food by the owner and would often have been made into spectacular banquet dishes. Excavations in 2021 proved that this building has been standing for over 700 years.
The square pond in the gardens was once much larger, covering most of the gardens including the Bowling Green. These once functioned as stewponds to store and cleanse freshwater fish when they were an important part of the medieval diet.
To the west were ranges of flint buildings with thatched roofs that functioned as barns and stabling for animals. One of these was huge, running north to south along what is now an extension to Parsonage Road. This was severely damaged by a deliberate fire in 1902.
Still visible today, following excavations in 2018-19 are three water troughs and a well all attached to the Dovecote, formed part of the farm in the 1800’s.
Until the last years of the 1800’s Motcombe would have been where the Town ended and fields and open Downland began stretching right across to Beachy Head.
The report from 2020/2021 will be here soon but for now, you can read the 2013 report here
Late Victorian child's shoe found in one of the troughs during the 2019 excavation
