Archaeologists reunite 50 years on from digs that helped save Minster
FIFTY YEARS ago, they were the young, crack team of archaeologists who worked through the night to save York Minster.
In 1969, colleagues Josephine Walker, Mike Griffiths, Graeme Guilbert and Derek Phillips were in their early 20s and embarking on their archaeological careers when they were called in to help architects and engineers after a survey two years previously had revealed that the foundations of the cathedral were close to collapsing.
By 1972, £2m had been spent on reinforcing the structure and the young academics had made some astonishing discoveries beneath the building – including the remains of the north corner of the headquarters of the Roman fort of Eboracum and part of the original Norman cathedral that once stood on the site. York Minster put 30 of its organ pipes up for auction yesterday, and the four retired experts – now in their 70s – reunited in York for a meal at the restaurant that they often stumbled into for dinner after a long day at the excavations.
What was Peter Madden’s restaurant at 9 High Petergate is now the Eagle & Child, owned by Leeds Brewery.
It is the first time the group have been together in the city since the do-or-die dig that began in 1966, when the conditions were described as ‘grim’ and they had to fight to convince engineers to halt their work.
They yesterday visited the Undercroft – the area beneath the Minster’s floor that they excavated and which was turned into a museum in 2013, telling the story of the building’s Roman and Norman links.