Time Team - Wayneflete Tower, Esher, Surrey - Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results

Wessex Archaeology

Eight trenches were excavated in total, with seven trenches in the garden of Wayneflete Tower and a single trench in 57 Pelhams Walk. They were excavated to evaluate the location, extent, character, date, and significance of any underlying archaeology. The archaeological evaluation was only partially successful in achieving its aims, as it was unable to locate the extent of the complex of buildings associated with the palace of Esher or to identify the Episcopal boundary of the estate. This was due to the size of the estate, a larger proportion of which fell outside the boundary of the garden of Wayneflete Tower and would have been situated in neighbouring properties.

The programme of work was successful in the identification of a number of buildings of the palace complex. Prior to the evaluation, the building’s existence was only known from two maps, dating from 1606 and 1673. By comparing the exposed archaeology to the cartographic evidence a clearer interpretation of the structures could be made, and the accuracy of the maps could be proved. Evidence of the Keep, a covered walkway and domestic buildings relating to Wayneflete was revealed, as well as evidence of a potentially 14th century Great Hall which had been incorporated into the palace complex.

The evaluation was also successful in providing a potential construction date for the Tower of the mid 1460s. The tree ring dating revealed that timber felled between 1462-72 was used; this tallies with when master mason John Cowper, who worked for Wayneflete before 1461 and after 1466, was believed to be working at Esher. The Pipe Rolls also indicate the Bishop was paying for work at Esher between 1464 and 1467.