Archaeologists return to Petworth House as search for lost North Wing continues

Addressing residents and visitors on Facebook, a spokesperson for the National Trust said researchers are looking to map the extent of the lost North Wing of the estate, which was dismantled in 1698 to make way for formal gardens, which were themselves transformed by Capability Brown into the rolling parkland locals know so well today.

It comes after an archaeological dig last year, and another in 2013, which uncovered evidence of the North Wing’s existence, and experts say this latest survey will be compared to previous findings in order to develop our understanding of Petworth Estate’s history.

This time around, researchers will be using a new technology called Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), which sends powerful radio waves into the ground, which are then reflected from a feature or layer below the surface. A very accurate clock can then measure the time it takes for these radio waves to return to the detector, thereby providing a 3d model of the ground below.

Petworth House and the surrounding estate have long been of interest to archaeologists, who also visited last summer, as part of the wider Henry VIII on tour project, in order to research the area’s possible connection to that most famous of Tudor kings, which could well have started when the future king was as young as ten-years-old, during a 1504 visit with his father, King Henry VII, according to experts.