Archaeology at West Horsley Place, Guildford, reveals Surrey’s past Anwen Pinniger City of London Freemens School

West Horsley Place is recognisable now to the general population as Button House from BBC’s ‘Ghosts’, the historical comedy from the six minds behind the classic ‘Horrible Histories’ TV series based on the award-winning books of the same name, though the actual building itself is quite anonymous in the county. Ghosts chronicles the lives of Alison and her husband Mike who inherit an enormous crumbling mansion, along with the various ghosts who inhabit the property, including a failed romantic poet, an uptight WW2 captain, a slimy 90s politician, and a snobby Edwardian lady. The show is now airing its fourth successful season (available on BBC iPlayer), and the series premiere had aired the night before I visited the estate.

The house and estate have had a very rocky life through the last thousand years, but that’s not to say an uninteresting one. The land has had a manor house since at least the Norman Conquest, but the earliest bit still standing today is the core of the house; 15th-century and oak-beamed. Both Elizabeth I and Henry VIII visited the house for banquets and revels, and the Tudor King owned it himself twice. The building also has the country’s oldest plaster ceiling in the Geraldine Room, named for Lady Elizabeth FitzGerald, who was immortalised in the poem Description and Praise of his love Geraldine by the Earl of Surrey. the inhabitant of the house. The history of West Horsley Place is specifically punctuated by powerful women, starting with Good Queen Bess all the way up to the Duchess of Roxburghe, the last private owner of the building, who bequeathed it to her nephew, the original host of University Challenge, Bamber Gascoigne, in 2015. By this time, the house was in serious disrepair, (seven years on, it is still on the Heritage at Risk List), and so the estate was gifted by Gascoigne and his wife Christina to the new charity The Mary Roxburghe Trust. The estate has its own Trust now, where all proceeds from tickets and filming are put back into preserving this house which has been a central part of Surreys history for a full millennium but has been all but forgotten until now.

With all this in mind, it’s understandable why archaeology is only taking place now at the manor. Run by the Surrey County Archaeology Unit, (SCAU), the three dig areas were assessed and combed through by volunteers for finds from years gone by. I myself found a nail which would have been used in wooden construction. Other finds included a belt buckle, a waistcoat button, pennies, and furniture nails. Undeniably the most important finds were medieval foundations which showed how the house must have extended much farther along the right wing. From this, the current theory is that there must have been a fire which destroyed most of that wing, with the burnt remains never rebuilt, and the remaining structure just bookended with a new wall over hole left. Medieval drainage was also found, with an old-fashioned fireplace backer with an as-yet unidentified coat of arms and motto used to cover part of the trench.

Scraping away at the dirt for six hours was very tiring, but it was so worth it to feel tangible history in my hands for the first time. There were around 20 volunteers during Saturday, when I was there, but in total there were 190 volunteers across 3 days, with 50 being aged between 16 and 25. The local primary school, The Raleigh School, also were involved and were given a taste of the career of an archaeologist.

Archaeology is a career in the historical sector which is open to all. This was my first ever time on a dig, and after a demonstration, all the volunteers could just get stuck in immediately. This is a volunteering opportunity which is perfect for newcomers, especially if you want to apply for Archaeology at university, since this is a perfect example of doing extra-curricular work to prove your love for the subject, and for history in general.

The phrase ‘these are the places that make us’ is therefore clearly reflected in this archaeology dig. The pieces that we found around the house are actual tangible artifacts that were buried until just over a month ago. We are descended from these people who lived before us; understanding them helps us understand ourselves. The questions like where do we come from? How did we get here? Who are we as a country? can all be answered with the help of archaeology. The past is quite literally uncovered from beneath our feet, giving us a clearer picture of the story of Surrey, and of the nation.