The most interesting find was a 15th-century manuscript that National Trust Curator Anna Forrest thought was part of a portable prayer book that may have belonged to Sir Edmund Bedingfeld, the builder of Oxburgh Hall.
Oxburgh Hall is a terraced house belonging to the Bedingfeld family, and it is now a tourist attraction.
The discoveries were made during a restoration project after major structural problems were discovered on the roof in 2016. Due to the pandemic, archaeologist Matthew Champion worked mostly in isolation.
“We were hoping to learn more about the history of the house during the renovation work and have commissioned paint analysis, wallpaper research, and building and historic graffiti recordings,” said Russell Clement, general manager at Oxburgh Hall. “But these findings are far above anything we expected to see.”
Champion carefully conducted a ‘finger tip’ through the pound, and he found a treasure chest of artifacts in two massive, ancient rats. One of the rat’s nests was filled with more than 200 pieces of textile, fragments of early music, pieces from early printed pages, and handwritten documents.
“These objects contain as many clues that confirm the history of the house as the retreat of a devout Catholic family, who have maintained their faith through the ages,” Clement said. “We will tell the story of the family and these findings in the house, now we are reopened after attraction.
“This is a building that is slowly revealing its secrets. We do not know what else we might encounter – or what may remain hidden for future generations to reveal.”
Oxburgh Hall is currently a nearly $ 8 million restoration and repair program initiated in 2016 to repair the roof. All the remaining pun has been removed and bagged to catalog in the future.
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