Second day of recording

By the end of Saturday, the team had recorded four flatlets and had almost completed two more. It's possible that as people become more familiar with the techniques involved, they will speed up and we will get most of the building planned today. David has done a plan of the courtyard and Brent is working on elevations of the exterior. Flatlets 2, 8 and 12 are being surveyed this morning.

A quick Google search reveals a Samuel Beldam of Royston, born 1705, who married Hester Wedd in 1737, who may be the vandal whose name is recorded in Flatlet 5. There also seems to be a Samuel Beldam of Dunmow listed as an alumnus of the University of Cambridge in 1768 and another who was transported as a criminal later in the eighteenth century. Given that the Sam of our panel would have been a resident of the parish poorhouse (he can hardly have been one of Kempe's widows!), it's tempting to identify him with either the first or last of the three I've located so far.

The best discovery so far today has been the location of the panels with the initials of William Croocar junior, with those of his wife (IC) and the date of 1585. These have been known about for some time, but are recorded as being in a different flatlet. They may have been moved during the restoration of 1958-60, the flatlet number may have changed or the article in which they are mentioned may give the wrong flatlet number.

The date 1585 carved into a panel, with Mrs Croocar's initials to the right

Community Archaeology at The Biggin, Hitchin, Hertfordshire

We are recording Hitchin's second oldest building, The Biggin, founded in 1361 as the Gilbertine Priory of Newbiggin by Edward de Kendale. It has survived the Dissolution, conversion to a private house, conversion to a school, conversion to almhouses and, finally, to flatlets occupied by teachers and students. The aim is to understand what survives from different phases of its use.

On site: Brent Smith, David Hillelson, Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews, Brian Dickinson, Frankie Saxton, Anna Mangini, Martin Alexander, Tony Driscoll, Margaret Tisdale, Pauline Humphries, Alan Clark, Nigel Harper-Scott, Laurie Elvin, John Morley

David Hillelson briefing the volunteers

People have been placed in three teams, each responsible for recording an individal flatlet. Frankie Saxton is drawing the decorative carved wood (part of a screen or window?) that has been humg on the wall by the south door. There are lots of graffiti in Flat 5; that carved by Sam Beldam in 1746 has been known for a long time, but there are smaller and earlier sets of initials with letter forms (specifically I and W) that look very seventeenth-century. Given that the panelling into which they are carved is prbably late sixteenth century, this is not altogether surprising. There's also a graffito with a date that appears to be 1691 on the northernmost column in the colonnade in the courtyard. There's clearly an awful lot to discover in the building!

Who was Sam Beldam and why was he defacing sixteenth-century panelling in 1746?

The living room of Flat 11 has a great deal of oak panelling, some of it evidently ancient and in situ, some of it more recent (perhaps as recently as 1958-60). It looks as if this was part of a higher status chamber or suite of chambers in the post-Dissolution building.

Measuring in one of the flatlets