“An Archeological Dig of Historical Uniqueness”
Daily Diary
Monday 25th January, 2010:
The volunteers arrived at Wingfield Estate at approximately 9:30 am today and all seemed very curious to find out about the history of Wingfield. David Rollinson gave us a brief historical tour explaining how sugar was made on Wingfield and pointing out what we were seeing. Then it was time to dig. The area designated for the dig did not show much indication as to what we could expect to find. We were instructed by Mr. Rollinson to carefully dig outside of the red bricks to outline the structure in the ground. We found the western edge of the structure to be almost a straight line; however, we could not say the same for the eastern edge. At the south-east corner of the eastern edge, the edge curved away from the structure indicating an apparent round structure was there. Further patient and delicate work revealed a “well-like” structure with a small opening to the south. We are not certain what the “well-like” structure is and the work today to reveal the outline of the structure has not brought us any closer to knowing what the structure is. It rained heavily around midday and work was stopped at approximately 12:30 pm. We will resume digging on Tuesday at 9:00 am.
**For the record – today is Election Day in the Federation of St.Kitts and Nevis
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Tuesday 26th January, 2010:
**It’s a Public Holiday in the Federation of St.Kitts and Nevis.
Today everyone was anxious to get started and so by 9:00am we were all digging. We are all curious to find out what it is that we are working on. From the work done yesterday, it is apparent to all of us that there is a lot more here than any of us anticipated or expected. We again started on the outside outline of the brickwork and some of us have started to work on outlining the inside of the three rectangles which are shown by red bricks.
At approximately 10:00 am we received our first resident volunteers for the dig. The three were very curious and anxious to start digging. Two of the volunteers were young men ages 12 and 15. Wow!! It was really great to see how keen they were to get started.
We started careful clearing out on the inside of the third rectangle. Lots of loose brick, stones and dirt make the work slow. We are finding white, yellow and red loose bricks inside of this rectangle. We have also found a hollow in the rectangle and this has made us more determined to get to the bottom of the rectangle. We are now beginning to find a very dark soil that indicates that something was burnt.
At the top (north) of the structure, the outline has take yet another outward curve once again indicating that there might be a circular structure there. Our idea that this might be a water system for hydro electricity is rapidly vanishing. This dig is becoming more of a mystery.
We stopped work at about 2:30 pm. Tomorrow, we’ll probably start even earlier. We are all really excited now.
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Wednesday 27th January, 2010:
Today, before 9:00 am we were already digging. Work continued on the third rectangle, the inside outline of the other two rectangles and on the outside outline. The circular “well-like” structure at the south-eastern area of the structure is becoming more pronounced. Beautiful brick work is being revealed.
The word is getting out because more and more visitors are stopping by, taking pictures and asking questions. We are all really excited to be a part of this very special event.
Representatives from the Ministry of Tourism have come today to witness and participate in the dig. Other volunteers from CVE have brought some of their friends over from Nevis to get involved in the dig and a very special 11 year old young lady worked really hard all day digging with us.
We also received a visit from the videographer staff of The Visitor Channel.
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Thursday 28th January, 2010:
The more we dig, the more puzzled we become. We now think that what we are working on appears to be a “Rum Distillery” from the 17th century. WOW!!
We started work today with a backhoe helping to carefully dig along the southern side of the structure. We wanted to find out how deep down was the foundation for the structure. We also had the backhoe partially dig on the western (straight) side of the structure for the same reason. After a bit more manual digging we finally found the bottom of the structure. We feel such a sense of accomplishment.
We found a hole at the very bottom on the southern wall which we feel could only be used for drainage. We also found a hole with a pipe in the western wall that leads straight through to the other side of the third rectangle. If our rum distillery theory is correct, this could be the pipe that was used to drain the actual rum into barrels after it was processed. At this point, there is no place I would rather be and I can say the same for all of the volunteers.
Today, we finally got to the inside bottom of the third rectangle. The entire inside of the rectangle is plastered which indicate that it was used for holding some type of liquid – probably water for cooling and condensing the vapours into rum. We found the corresponding end of the hole in the southern wall and sure enough there is a similar hole at the bottom of the northern wall which we are pretty sure goes all the way through to the second rectangle. There is a stack of cemented bricks in the middle of the floor of the third rectangle (this cannot be removed). We think that this stack of bricks could have been used to place the “worm” on which was used to condense the vapours into rum. We also found that the pipe in the hole in the western wall protruded out of the wall inside of the third rectangle and after taking a sample of the pipe, it was determined that the pipe is made from copper. The dark soil which we started to find on Tuesday is soft and silky. We think this soil came from the used of crushed sugar cane stalks as fuel to boil the molasses in the rum making process.
We again had visitors today. The local television station (ZIZ) paid us a visit and conducted a few interviews. We also had a very special visitor in the person of Mr. Campbell Evelyn. Mr. Evelyn was born in 1921 and lived and worked on Wingfield Estate from 1935 to 1944 before being transferred. Oh what stories. It was most intriguing.
I have dubbed this day “Day of Discoveries”.
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Friday 29th January, 2010:
Today is the last day for the volunteers to dig. Most are quite emotional and don’t want to leave. However, they are happy that they were able to participate in such a unique and exciting event. They are all curious to have confirmed what we discovered and would like to return to continue the dig or to at least see the entire structure uncovered. It’s a day of real mixed emotions.
We started early as usual, about 9:00 am. After yesterday’s discoveries, everyone is anxious to see what else we can find before they leave. We spent most of today trying to establish if two more round well-like structures exist next to the other two rectangles. We made some progress with what we think are the insides of the two round structures. They are somewhat different from the first one that we uncovered in that they are not made of brick but of stone instead. Throughout the dig, we found bits of pottery which are clearly 17th and 18th century, bits of metal and lots of red, yellow and white bricks. We also found a bone which we believe to be part of the leg of a cow.
Again we had visitors. Mr. Vincent Hubbard came over from Nevis and was very excited to participate in the dig. We are now pretty certain that what we uncovered is a rum distillery. The date of this distillery is yet to be confirmed.
This dig must continue as there are many more secrets at Wingfield Estate to be uncovered, discovered and shared. This week has been most memorable for all. |
