Archaeologists believe they have identified the exact site of Henry VII’s birth in 1457 after excavations in the grounds of Pembroke Castle in Wales uncovered the remains of a massive medieval mansion worthy of one of the most famous kings of England.

Just days into an initial dig, archaeologists have uncovered up to half a metre of the building’s walls – and they are yet to reach the main floor levels. One wall is a metre thick.

They have also unearthed so many slates and tiles that they are concluding it had a slate roof. Green-glazed ridge tiles have also been found, which suggest a particularly imposing building, while other finds include a curving stair from a spiral staircase.

James Meek, who is heading the excavation for the Dyfed Archaeological Trust, said such finds are already suggesting “a fairly showy building” inside of the outer walls of the castle.

It is about the size of two tennis courts, while the scale of the walls suggests a structure of a considerable height.

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Archaeologists had been carrying out an initial two-week exploration that ended on Sunday. What they have found after just a few days is so exciting that they want to return.

Pembroke Castle dates back to the 11th century. Henry VII was believed to have been born in its 13th-century tower, which is named after him.

Meek said: “We know [from documentary evidence] that he was born in the castle, which was at that time owned by his uncle, Jasper Tudor ... it’s more likely that he was born in a modern residence, for the time, than in a guard tower on the walls.”

Evidence of a possible building had recently shown up as parch marks in aerial photographs and in a geophysical survey, but nobody has actually done any modern-day excavation, Meek said. Now the trial evaluation has been conducted to see how much of the building survives.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Archaeologists hope the findings in the trench could shed new light on 15th-century castle life. Photograph: Courtesy of Dr Mark Merrony

Meek spoke of finding substantial walls of local stone: “What we’re getting is exactly what we’d hoped we’d find on the site – the remains of this freestanding building in the outer walls of Pembroke castle that has all the appearance in the floor plan of being a later medieval hall house, which would certainly fit in with that later 15th-century period, when Jasper Tudor is granted the castle.”

He added that they have excavated only two trenches so far: “They’re already proving to be incredibly interesting in terms of our studies of castles ... we’re taking things very carefully because we’re in a scheduled monument.”

They have also found an unspoilt cesspit with “an absolute mass of oyster shell and bone”, among other material that could shed valuable new light.

Expressing surprise over how much of this structure has survived, Meek said: “It tells a very different story for how we think outer walls of castles were used in that later medieval period … it was always the thought that they [castles] were full of smaller timber buildings of lesser status than the rest of the court rooms and the administrative functions of the castle itself. Whereas here, you’ve got one high-status residential structure.”

Henry VII came to the throne after defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth, bringing the Wars of the Roses to an end.

Mark Merrony, an archaeologist and a supernumerary fellow at Wolfson College, University of Oxford, visited the site last week. He said: “If this is the house where Henry VII was born, as the archaeology appears at this stage to suggest, it is of the greatest historical significance, and quite extraordinary given that the last major late medieval discovery was the resting place of his vanquished arch rival, Richard III.”

The excavation has been made possible with funding from the Castle Studies Trust, with the assistance of Pembroke Castle.



