Exciting archaeological discoveries were made at Dilston last summer during a Field School run by North Pennines Archaeology, backed by an enthusiastic team of volunteers. The purpose of the dig was to investigate the remains of what appeared to be the Jacobean service range of Dilston Hall, the manor house added to the 15th-century tower house (Dilston Castle), in 1622. The only other surviving feature of this fine Jacobean house is its gateway (standing near Dilston Chapel) that led into the courtyard of Dilston Hall.
Work began on the project in early July and continued at weekly intervals until the end of September, during which time the team uncovered an amazing mass of stonework of a building that stood to the north of Dilston Hall. Frank Giecco, Technical Director of North Pennines Archaeology and lead archaeologist, says the quality and extent of the remains discovered in the dig was totally unexpected, providing evidence of at least three phases of building, dating back to the 16th century and earlier. It is thought the building, in its final use, was probably used as a stable block and survived in some form until the early 19th century, when a number of outbuildings of Dilston Hall, including the brew house, were dismantled. Finds have included 17th and 18th-century pottery, moulded stones and plaster, lead window cames, musket balls, a Charles ll half penny and masses of roof tiles.
The stonework uncovered in the excavation includes an extensive area of cobbled flooring divided into compartments or rooms set above a façade of twelve or more arched features and some underground culverts that appear to have been drains from Dilston Hall itself. The largest of these culverts could well have doubled as an escape tunnel in times of trouble, and traditionally is believed to have done so. In some places the foundations of walls that are possibly medieval have been found alongside the later 17th-century stonework.
Meanwhile, a geophysical survey of the pasture field, to the east of Dilston Castle, detected a structure that appeared to date to the earlier build. This may yet turn out to relate to the ancient settlement of Dyvelston, which grew up on the site in the 12th century and remained a thriving community up until Elizabethan times.
The site of the excavation can be seen on an engraving of Dilston Hall (featured in this Review), where a small building stands in front of some outbuildings of the house, on the far left of the picture. This engraving shows the back of the original Jacobean house with the later Palladian-style western wing, built c.1712-15 by James Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater, on the right. Also of interest to the archaeologists was a Plan of the Dilston Estate, drawn up in 1735/6, showing the layout of the Hall and its surrounding buildings (featured on the cover of the Friends’ Review).
On the last week of the dig, great jubilation broke out amongst the archaeological team, when Mr Charles Beaumont, the owner of the surrounding farmland, came to visit the site and agreed to lease a portion of the pasture field, adjacent to the castle, to the North Pennines Heritage Trust. This means that the foundations of the Jacobean house and the medieval hall can now be exposed and this significant part of the site opened to the public. These new features will greatly enhance a visit to Dilston and assist the understanding of the early history of the site, when an ‘old hall’, which may have been the residence of the Dyvelstons, the first family to hold the barony of Dilston, stood alongside the tower house – Dilston Castle.
Amongst the team of volunteers taking part in the dig were local people, students, overseas volunteers and several Friends of Historic Dilston. Viewing days were held for Friends as well as the general public, when archaeologist Kevin Mounsey showed people around and explained the significance of what had been found. The archaeological site was temporarily closed down at the end of September and the area fenced off for health and safety reasons. Excavation work will resume in 2008, when Friends can again take part in the dig and further viewing days will be arranged.
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