A GROUP of amateur archaeologists have unearthed the find of the century after digging up Henry VIII’s lost palace in a back garden.
The team from a small village in Northamptonshire had ‘no money [and] no plans’ according to a report in The Guardian.
Chris Close, from the Collyweston Historical and Preservation Society, admitted: “We’re a bunch of amateurs. We had no money, no expertise, no plans, no artist impressions to go off, and nothing remaining of the palace. It’s naivety and just hard work that has led us to it.”
For generations the locals had been told of a lost Tudor palace that housed the kings and queens of England. Was this a myth or a real place?
“Many of us were brought up in the village, and you hear about this lost palace, and wonder whether it’s a myth or real. So we just wanted to find it,” Chris added.
“Hearsay was always saying there’s an area here called ‘the palace gardens’ and everyone had their own independent views as to where we’d found this palace, but nobody had an idea of how big it was.” Close told the Daily Mail.
The team which discovered the Palace of Collyweston started with a budget of just £1000 and began a hunt following the local rumour mill.
“Us being so naive on the whole project it’s kind of been a blessing – as if someone told us we needed to raise £30,000 to £40,000 we’d probably never have started,” said Chris.
What they uncovered certainly surprised the amateur shovelling sleuths – they revealed a massive complex that would have been considered a ‘mega-mansion’ in those days.
“You think this is just a mini-stately home and it turns out to be a complex of buildings which is over a thousand paces all the way around the outside,”Chris added.
The big break came earlier this year when the team found walls that they were certain were part of the palace.
Having played host to multiple monarchs, the Palace of Collyweston is a huge archaeological find.
“When Henry VII won the Battle of Bosworth, Lady Margaret Beaufort was gifted the site,” Close told The Mail.
“In 1503 there was a big shindig at Collyweston. So all the great and the good came, because Henry VII’s daughter, Margaret was being sent off to Scotland to marry James IV and they had a two week party at Collyweston.
“It was on the basis of that she got lots of new building work done to try and show off. That’s where Henry said goodbye to her at Collyweston.
“Henry VIII came here in 1541 along with Catherine Howard and Elizabeth I came and had Privy Councils here during her time and added some more buildings – including a banqueting hall.
“We’ve still not found that by the way. We’ve got a banqueting hall to find. So there’s lots went on here.”
By the mid-17th century, the palace had lapsed into a state of disrepair, and until the excavation by the CHAPS team in March, there was very little evidence of its existence at all.
Who knows what they’re going to find next?