Quarry Workers Unearth 16th Century ‘Rare Elizabethan-Era’ Ship In England

Quarry workers in England discovered a ship dating back to the reign of Queen Elizabeth last April. Wessex Archaeology announced the discovery in late December. Press release.

According to an archeologist, rare finds of ships from before the 1700s or the Elizabethan period are possible. CEMEX U.K. workers were digging a lake in a quarry at Dungeness headland, Kent, England. Undiscovered the ship’s remains. They weren’t sure what it was, so they called in the experts.

“To find a late 16th-century ship preserved in the sediment of a quarry was an unexpected but very welcome find indeed,” In the press release, Andrea Hamel, a marine biologist from Wessex Archaeology stated that. “The ship has the potential to tell us so much about a period where we have little surviving evidence of shipbuilding but yet was such a great period of change in ship construction and seafaring,” She added.

Archeologists examined the find and determined it to be a ship from 16th-century. “rare-Elizabethan-era” find. It was found that over 100 timbers had been recovered from the ship’s hull. Intact. They were able identify the timbers as English oak between 1558-1580 using dendrochronological data, which uses tree rings for the year.

“For anything to survive from before 1700 is so rare that it would be nationally significant,” Hamel .

The remains of a 16th-century rare ship were unexpectedly found in a Kent quarry in April @CEMEX_UK. 👷

We have provided emergency funding @wessexarch to investigate with @Kent_cc. 🔍

The story features on #DiggingForBritain tonight on @BBCTwo with @theAliceRoberts. ⛏️ pic.twitter.com/GCy3T9RsoG

— Historic England (@HistoricEngland) January 1, 2023

The archeologists note that this vessel was built during a “transitional period” of ship construction in Europe. The construction of the ship used the “carvel” technique, which means the frame of the ship was built first, then planks are added to surround the frame and were fixed flush, creating the hull. This is different from another type of ship-building technique, favored by the Vikings, called “clinker” built, where the planks overlap each other.

The remains of the ship were found around 1,000 feet from the sea, which was likely on the coastline at one point, the press release stated. Researchers believe the ship either wrecked on the headland at the site, a narrow piece of land projecting out into the sea, or was placed where it was found after determining the ship was no longer seaworthy.

“The remains of this ship are really significant, helping us to understand not only the vessel itself but the wider landscape of shipbuilding and trade in this dynamic period,” Antony Firth, the head of marine heritage strategy at Historic England, the group that funded the research, said. “CEMEX staff deserve our thanks for recognizing that this unexpected discovery is something special and for seeking archaeological assistance.”

The ship remains unidentified, but the group says it would have once been an important asset in a period of expanding trade during part of the period known as the Age of Exploration. The ship has been digitally photographed and laser scanned by Wessex Archaeology. The group says that when their work is complete, they will rebury the ship in the quarry lake for silt to continue its preservation, potentially allowing future generations the opportunity to study it with more advanced technology.