City's surviving Civil War stake defences revealed

The first surviving Civil War wooden stake defences to be found in the UK have been discovered by archaeologists in the moat of Sheffield's former castle.

The stakes were stuck into the ground to form a barrier around the Royalist-controlled castle, which fell to Parliamentarian forces after a 10-day siege in August 1644.

The remains of the castle are currently being excavated by a team from Wessex Archaeology as part of the Castlegate regeneration project.

Leading archaeologist Ashley Tuck called the find a "direct connection with the people who chopped down those trees and trusted their lives to this wood".

Mr Tuck said discovering the 17th Century stakes was "what archaeology is about".

"We're trying to form a link with the people that lived in the past," he explained.

"We're trying to empathise with them and understand what they were going through.

"To be able to touch something that they touched, that's electric."

The crudely-prepared stakes were about 3ft (1m) in length and made from ash and elm, which implied they had been hastily crafted from trees in the local area, Mr Tuck said.

Historians believe such defences would have been arranged chaotically to form a defence known as an "abatis", slowing attackers in strategic locations and creating a zone where they could be killed.

At Sheffield Castle, this was done in front of the medieval gatehouse, a crucial entry point.

The archaeology team said it was unusual to find such stakes intact, as they typically decayed over time or were destroyed after use.

However, when Parliamentary forces destroyed the castle after its capture, the timbers were buried in the waterlogged ground of its moat, providing ideal conditions for their preservation.

Mr Tuck said the stakes would be given to the Sheffield Museums Trust to display after completion of the preservation process, but that could take years.

However, he also hinted there might be more discoveries from the site which could surprise people.

"Keep your ears open," he teased.

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