Bablake Excavations

June 1939

BABLAKE SITE

Excavations which had ceased for six months, have commenced again on the old Bablake site.

Varied are the places where 700 years ago, the rubbish was deposited to form the basins or dams for the mill races. The blackened piles of long ago are as tough as when placed there. Some of the material is as though collected from roadways, while some is black and fibrous in the form of manure from the many cattle sheds existing at that time.

On the Coventry Co-operative Society site, scarcely anything has been discovered in the last excavations, save pottery of the 13-14th cent, and at a depth of 16 feet, (being two feet through the gravel,) two pieces of fossilised oak branches came to light. A large oak tree was found cut off at the trunk but standing where it grew at 10 feet in depth. In one place the gravel was very near the surface, as though thrown up by a flood. More digging will be done at a later time.

On the opposite side of Bablake Street large holes for foundations have been made which have given me an opportunity to discover what was buried beneath. Fourteen holes in all were made, about 6-ft, wide and from 6-ft. to 15-ft. in length. In one hole the large timbers of a mill were found at a depth of 16-ft. and from here I obtained a new design of shoe sole which may have been made for a person with a deformed foot. Many 14th cent, boot soles and uppers were found, and also part of a wood pattern from which boot soles, (such as were found under Messrs. Newsome's Garage some years ago), were cut. A silver coin of the 13th cent., a brass counter with small ships on one side, and Fleur-de-lis on the reverse side this dates from the same period as the boots, Edward III.) small pieces of pottery, a piece of leather, cut in form of a cross, and a knife which could be used today, but minus the handle. A piece of stone with a hole made through one end, is I believe for tethering a goat. All these things were found at a depth of 12-16 ft. In the last hole to be made, (on Thursday, May 11th) two trees of large size were found at a depth of 10-ft., placed lying in the same direction, and about 6-ft. apart, which no doubt was for a crude water race, to the mill timbers I mentioned above, where possibly the mill wheel hung. These timbers are as tough as when placed there 700 years ago, and proved a great hindrance to the excavators.

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