HULL, ENGLAND—BBC News reports that a blockhouse commissioned by Henry VIII has been excavated by a team led by Ken Steedman of Humber Field Archaeology. The structure was part of a system of three forts linked by a curtain wall to protect the city of Hull and its port. Guns and ammunition were stored in the blockhouse. The researchers uncovered the original floor surface, which dates to the 1540s, and the remains of three-foot-tall walls. Fragments of materials taken from monasteries dissolved by the king between 1536 and 1540 were found in the walls, along with intact gun ports. The blockhouse was demolished in 1864, but materials from the upper floor were dumped onto the original floor to raise the level of the ground, thus protecting some of the sixteenth-century structure. “It proved that what we have is a bit of a gem,” Steedman said. To read more about Tudor-era archaeology, go to "Henry VIII's Favorite Palace."
