This week we would like to highlight Unlocking Old Windsor: An Assessment of Brian Hope-Taylor’s 1953-58 Excavation Archive from Kingsbury, Old Windsor, Berkshire.
The late Brian Hope Taylor undertook six seasons of excavation at Old Windsor, Berkshire, between 1953 and 1958. During the excavation, he discovered a sequence of use that included Saxon and Early Norman remains from the 7th to 11th-centuries, a 9th-century watermill, and a series of high-quality buildings and finds indicative of a Late Saxon and Early Norman royal complex.
The interpretation of this site as the royal precursor to New Windsor, led to this site being thought of as one of the most important sites of the period in southern England, as well as establishing Hope-Taylor as one of Britain’s most influential archaeologists of the 1950s and 1960s.
However, much of the work has never been analysed or published due to a division of the archive between Historic Environment Scotland and the Reading Museum. This has led to a lack of understanding and access around the project. Thus, over 20 years after his death and over 70 years since his excavations began, the Unlocking Old Windsor Project was created.
The collaboration between Historic England, the University of Reading , and Berkshire Archaeological Society produced an archive that includes:
- Original images of the site
- Site Records
- Archaeological reports including stone fragments, preserved timber, pottery, and animal bone
- Lists of finds
All of Hope-Taylor’s excavation records held by Historic Environment Scotland (HES) in Edinburgh have been digitised and made publicly accessible via Historic Environment Scotland’s Old Windsor Archive Collection.
