They had "no money, no expertise, no plans." Yet a group of amateur archaeologists have managed to find a lost English palace visited by kings and queens, which had become the stuff of legend. The village of Collyweston in Northamptonshire lies on the medieval route that connected London and the north of England and its palace was "a critical strategic settlement and stopping-off point for travelers," including Henry VII, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and the future Queen of Scots Margaret Tudor, according to the Tudor Travel Guide. Records of the palace date to the 13th century and describe it as including two or three courtyards, a great hall, chapel, library, brewery, gatehouse, and clock tower. But little remained by the 17th and 18th centuries.
"Many of us were brought up in the village, and you hear about this lost palace, and wonder whether it's a myth or real," Chris Close, chair of the Collyweston Historical and Preservation Society (CHAPS), tells the Guardian. "So we just wanted to find it." But the 80 society members, including teenagers and the elderly, had little to go on apart from "local folktales and hearsay." As the BBC reports, the only sign of the manor's existence "were related fish ponds, garden terraces and a tithe barn, which has been turned into a house." CHAPS began researching the manor in 2018 in the hope of identifying its location. With about $17,500 obtained through grants, they ordered a number of geophysical surveys.
Ground-penetrating radar revealed the palace walls for the first time in March, per the BBC. After obtaining permission from landowners, CHAPS members were joined by professional archaeologists as they dug up a garden, revealing stone moldings of the palace which were verified by experts from the University of York. "We're a bunch of amateurs. We had no money, no expertise, no plans, no artist impressions to go off, and nothing remaining of the palace. It's naivety and just hard work that has led us to it," Close proudly tells the Guardian, noting similar projects can cost more than $100,000. The excavation is ongoing. There are plans to uncover and conserve more of the structure and further investigate its uses. According to the Tudor Travel Guide, it was once owned by Edward IV's brother, Henry VIII's grandmother, and Elizabeth I herself. (More discoveries stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
