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Archaeological dig uncovers Cedars Park’s past
Created 17 July, 2008
On the weekend of 12 and 13 July, Broxbourne Council together with Enfield Archaeological Society opened up two trenches on the site of Theobalds Palace in Cedars Park. This was the first time in 40 years that a dig has taken place on this site and the public was invited to observe the archaeologists at work.
Theobalds Palace was acquired by James I in 1607 and remained a Royal palace until the Civil War, after which it was largely demolished and its gardens abandoned. During its Royal lifetime the house and garden was one of the most elaborate of the Elizabethan era - bigger and more extravagant than Burleigh House, yet there are few visual records of it in its heyday.
The excavations confirmed the existence of an ornamental canal around an island (believed to date from the time of James I or earlier), but the unstable nature of the material used to fill it in sometime in or after the 1970s and its great depth meant that it could only be partially excavated with safety. The deposits in it were mainly Victorian or later and it may have been enlarged in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries, cutting away the evidence for its earlier size and shape.
Although no evidence was found on the north side of the canal for a known footbridge leading to the island, features connected to eighteenth and nineteenth century gardens leading up to it were present. They included two complexes of brick built drains and channels and later glazed pipe drains probably connected to efforts to keep landscaped areas drained.
Unfortunately few finds from the time of the Royal palace were made but the complete neck of a German stoneware (‘Bellarmine’) wine jug with a bearded man’s face moulded on to it was found, and is probably stray rubbish from the royal kitchens.
We will bring you a further update when Dr. Martin J. Dearne completes his report on the excavations.
Watch a video of the dig 
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For a full list of events at Cedars Park, please visit our dedicated Cedars Park website at www.cedarspark.info
A website dedicated to the Royal Palace of Theobalds and Theobalds Park goes online later this year www.theobalds.info