See inside the medieval drawbridge pit at Pontefract Castle! | Virtual Dig Tour | 2020

[@BSWVI]

Thank you for this! I love that the villagers got fed up with the fighting over Pontefract and took it apart! Must add that the knowledge and enthusiasm of the young people are uplifting!

[@michaelandsiannew2336]

Great video of the virtual tour. Can't wait to see further progress. Thanks

[@LynxEng]

Could you please do a look around the drawbridge area pointing out which way people would have arrived and exactly where the bridge would have gone across?

[@judithcooke6979]

Thanks for the interesting tour. Love the finds. Looking forward to seeing the bottom!

[@hollyanne2991]

Wow looks like a fab trench!! And a bit of a puzzle perhaps, amazing engineering and masonry. I'd love to work on a castle someday!

[@harbourdogNL]

Great stuff folks!!

[@cliveffitch5202]

The lovely bronze piece - something pivoted in it? Any markings indicating a rotating rod? Someting thrown in the pit or lost when being transported out of the castle? Fascinating. Thanks for the site tour!

[@DougHopper]

Thanks guys. Good to see you getting dig-fit for Elmswell. See you there.

[@Digventures]

Can't wait Doug! Squeeee!

[@vo2287]

Thank you Indie, Chris, David and Digventures. Most interesting presentations

[@grahamstokes2696]

Thanks for this. Wonderful to see how things are "turning up" with all your efforts digging, shoring, etc.

[@vo2287]

Looking forward to seeing this

[@karenwells5493]

Thank you for the update. Take care down there the pit looks very deep now.

[@Digventures]

Don't worry, we'll be careful!

[@barryshore4187]

Very interesting. Perhaps the bronze "half shell" is to do with the mechanism for hinging the base of the drawbridge.

[@greendoodily]

That bronze object looks suspiciously like a plain bearing for a pivot.

[@christianbuczko1481]

I thought the same.

[@Digventures]

Oooh interesting! We'll pass your thoughts on to the dig team :) fingers crossed a specialist will be able to confirm exactly what it is when we send it off post-excavation!

[@raymondsmall7352]

DigVentures I thought the same about the bronze piece as well

[@northernskys]

Yes, thought exactly that. Wondering if it was from a small cannon? One of these fitted into each side of the wood of the gun carriage, holding the bottom part of the barrels' trunnions ?

[@swissthun60]

Well done guys! Keep going..., :)

[@hansvanderbent5574]

small note on the safety side... you are not supposed to put stickers on a hard hat, they sticky bit contains solvants that may weaken the hard hat, making them less safe. I love these vids by the way, as a Time team fan, this is a good succesor for an archeology enthusiast.

[@glynwelshkarelian3489]

I guess from the dirt being shovelled at the bottom of the pit that it did not contain water. Is that right? If it is my first guess that the large side hole was an overflow would be wrong.

[@neilfleming2787]

could that bronze piece have been a slot for something on the drawbridge to slot into when it's lowered to sort of lock it in place...from the far edge of the pit?

[@BigMrFirebird]

This pit was filled in and no drawbridge was here (just gates) by the time of the Civil War. Without knowing the calibre/weight of those cannon balls, there's a chance that they were shot from a field gun called a drake, which had been placed in the earthworks of the besiegers, facing the castle on Baghill. Source: Nathan Drake's Siege Diary.

[@TerryMcGearyScotland]

Interesting stuff! It's fascinating to me to see, or work out how people lived (and fought!). Nicely presented too. Big thumbs up and subscribed. Anything to encourage me to get a metal detector (...and drone). :)

[@bremnersghost948]

Bronze piece @5:00 could be part of a cannon that the trunnions sit in.

[@josephyearwood1179]

Oft minded (and ‘mines dead’) of Wales on hearing the northern England placenames: “Pontefract” and “Penrith”. 😂 ❤