While snow covers the grounds of Grosvenor Lodge today, many months ago, during the height of summer, exciting things were happening around the over one-hundred-and-fifty-year-old home.
At the end of July, Heritage London Foundation and the City of London had Timmins Martelle Heritage Consultants come in, under the supervision of archaeologist Matthew Beaudoin, to conduct required archaeological tests on the Grosvenor Lodge property.
In Ontario, there is very strict legislation that requires archaeological assessments be completed in a number of different development projects. Even though HLF only has minor plans for revamping the gardens, a thorough archaeological investigation must still be carried out.
This investigation began with the archaeologists conducting a Stage One assessment which looks into the history of the site and a cursory inspection of the site. They reviewed the geography, the historical background of the property, and reviewed past archaeological investigations.
Then, the archaeologists moved onto an in-person, Stage Two Property Assessment. This involved digging small test pits consistently over the entire property and investigating the dirt. They looked for any type of artifact – which were then taken back to their labs to be cleaned, identified, classified, and catalogued.
In the end, the archaeologists spend an entire day investigating the Grosvenor Lodge property and found dozens of artifacts from the nineteenth century occupation of the home.
