The public were invited to look around the site on the dig's 'open Day' yesterday, 18 August. Living history groups 'Centingas' and 'de Bec' set up displays on the village green to bring the period to life. Lyminge is a pretty village set in the rolling countryside of Kent, and the weather on the Open Day was beautiful.
The' Long Hall', in the process of excavation, is an enormous building dating to mid c7, and is very probably a royal residence, sitting in the shadow of a long-gone monastery on the hill above. The dig is funded for another two seasons, and the most exciting finds may well be still awaiting discovery.
High point for me was to be invited to recite some lines of 'Beowulf' in the very space within the Hall where the king's scop may have entertained the guests at a royal feast nearly 1400 years ago.
