You may have spent the last year wondering what has been going on amongst all the scaffolding and construction noise at Hertford College. The Hertford Archaeological Open Day on Saturday 6th September provided the answer, with insight into the building work and rescue archaeology that has been taking place behind the College’s walls.
Hertford is currently in the process of building a new library and archival storage, including a basement that will extend under the main Old Quad to the Old Chapel and up against the All Souls College boundary. Development in Oxford, and across the country, goes through a planning process whereby potential archaeological importance has to be taken into consideration. Archaeology companies are then contracted to excavate and record any finds before the construction can take place.
Oxford Archaeology have taken on the project. They are a commercial company which works all around the UK, not just in Oxford as the name may suggest. Ben Ford, senior project manager at Oxford Archaeology, told Cherwell: “Part of our remit is to invite members of the public in to show them what we’re finding…the project is quite complicated, because there are a lot of different aspects to working together with construction.” This means that they will probably be working until Christmas 2025, having already been at Hertford for almost a year.
During this long job they have found some decidedly interesting things. Tamsin, an archaeologist working on the site, told Cherwell: “There’s a lot of archaeology here. Our work varies based on what we think is there, and how it impacts the surrounding landscape.”
The excavations in the Quad have revealed that many different buildings and institutions once made up the Hertford we know today. Archaeological evidence, used alongside old maps, attests to the existence of three small, medieval academic halls: Black Hall, Catte Hall, and Hart Hall. Precursors to the college system, only Hart Hall was to survive, eventually becoming Hertford College. The Quad also has remains from the back gardens of properties that lined Catte Street, which was once the centre of hand-made book production in Oxford. This pairs nicely with the discovery of a collection of metal book clasps (which held books shut when they were made of parchment paper), as well as writing leads and styli.
Another archaeologist, James, walked me through some of their best finds, displayed in a glass case for the visitors to see. He said: “The [reading] lens is the best thing I’ve ever found. I’m still ecstatic about it. It came out perfectly; it was absolutely stunning.” He went on to add that, as reading lenses were popular before the 1300s, this one could be well over 700 years old. Other finds included German stoneware pottery, French jetons (a form of medieval currency), and a Scottish coin, showing that “we’ve got a large international population that’s coming to Oxford to interact with the University, and they’re bringing their culture with them”.
The waste pits from the three halls have brought to light small everyday items. These include combs made from animal bone, metal buckles, drinking vessels, tableware, and even a set of wooden bowling balls, painting a picture of student life not far removed from our own. Eating, drinking, and leisure activities went hand-in-hand with academic studies, even in the medieval period.
Whilst the archaeologists may be done by the end of 2025, Olivia Warburton, Head of Communications at Hertford College, said that the library should be finished in time for the 2027/28 academic year.
