Great Hall North Buttress, Hampton Court Palace

In February 2010 Oxford Archaeology (OA) hand-excavated a single archaeological test pit in Great Hall Court at Hampton Court Palace, to a depth of 0.4 m. The work was commissioned by Historic Royal Palaces (HRP,) in advance of stabilisation work to the buttresses to the north of the Great Hall. A north-south brick wall of apparent Wolsey or pre- Wolsey date was exposed. It may run right across the court to join with another wall fragment recently exposed against the south cloister wall.
The north-south wall was abutted by a deposit, possibly a surface, of Wolsey or pre-Wolsey brick, which also abutted the wall of the Great Hall. Above this brick deposit were a number of make-up layers for the current cobbled surface. A watching brief during removal and replacement of quoins on Buttress 3 showed that the east and west sides of buttress 3 are mainly faced with Henrician stock brick, Hampton Court Brick Typology Type 'C'. This is built with an English bond and features a typical creamy coloured friable lime mortar with white lime inclusions. There was evidence of some later repair work.