800-year-old bridge — used by medieval military — unearthed at UK park. Take a look
Digging into the tan brown soil of a park in the United Kingdom, archaeologists hit rock. The ruins of an 800-year-old bridge — once used by a medieval military — began to reemerge.
Archaeologists excavated a section of Priory Park in Chichester as part of an annual project, the Chichester District Council said in a May 22 news release. The moderate-sized park boasted the ruins of a medieval castle fortress and a religious building.
This year’s dig focused on ruins from the Norman era, a period of U.K. history when the Normans took control between 1066 and 1154, according to Britannica.
During the excavation, archaeologists uncovered the ruins of a bridge built and used by the Norman military at least 800 years ago, officials said.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to uncover the structure of a bridge that would have spanned the ditch surrounding the central mound, or ‘motte,’” James Kenny, an archaeologist with the council, said in the release.
“The structure is extremely impressive and solidly constructed,” he said. The council shared photos of the ruins on Facebook.
“Norman soldiers would have used this bridge as a means of protecting the city’s castle,” Kenny said. “They would have crossed the bridge on wooden beams over the masonry — on foot, by horse, or with carts — and then removed the beams after use so that invaders wouldn’t be able to cross to the motte.”
“We have found key architecture that would have formed the structure of the bridge, including a robust corner block — or ‘quoin’ — made of limestone,” Kenny said. A photo shows the stone ruins.
“We have also discovered putlog holes, which are holes that oak beams would have been inserted into to help form a scaffolding system that would have been used while building the structure,” he said.
The excavation also uncovered one of the bridge’s stone archways, the Chichester and District Archaeology Society said in a June 1 Facebook post. Photos show the half-buried arch.
The 800-year-old bridge was built soon after the Normans took control and expanded during their rule, Kenny said.
“This is an exciting discovery because this is the first time since the Middle Ages that people have been able to view what would have been a very impressive military defensive system,” he said in the release.
Archaeologists also found medieval floor tiles linked to the nearby religious building and other artifacts, officials said. A photo shared by the council on Facebook shows some of these decorated tiles.
The excavation ended June 3, officials said. Chichester is near the southern coast of the U.K. and a roughly 70-mile drive southwest from London.
This story was originally published June 4, 2024 at 5:41 AM with the headline "800-year-old bridge — used by medieval military — unearthed at UK park. Take a look."
