suppose that the building had ceased to exist late in the 17th or perhaps early in the 18th century.

The site lay on the north bank of the York River on rising ground immediately west of Clay Bank landing. Little or nothing was known about the property in the colonial period and it was apparently identified on no known maps or land plats. However, the fact that it was adjacent to part of the 18th-century Page family plantation (whose mansion house had been included in previous archeological work[1]) and because the Clay Bank site gave promise of yielding information regarding domestic life in the late 17th century, the author decided to undertake limited excavation in the area of the structure.

With the assistance of local volunteer labor and the archeological staff of Colonial Williamsburg, two trenches were dug, one exposing a larger area of the brick foundation, and the other parallel to it some 11 feet to the west in the direction of the river. The first cutting revealed the remains of a massive brick chimney measuring 10 feet 2 inches by 6 feet using oystershell mortar and laid in English bond. The brickwork was not bonded to, or abutting against, any wall foundation and it was therefore presumed that the building to which it belonged had stood on piers.

The second trench cut through mixed strata of sand, black soil, and scattered oystershells extending downward to a depth of at least 3 feet 9 inches, at which level a thick layer of shells was found. In the top of the shell stratum were fragments of glass wine bottles of the late 17th century and parts of an iron can. It was clear that the trench was not wide enough to enable the artifacts to be studied in situ or removed in safety, and consequently work was halted until the project could be developed into an area excavation.

Both the stratigraphy and the similarity in date of artifacts from top to bottom of the test trench strongly indicated that we were cutting through one deposit, probably the filling of a cellar belonging to the same building as the large brick chimney to the east. Remembering the huge quantities of artifacts that had been recovered from a single hole at neighboring Rosewell, it was hoped that yet another significant contribution would be made to the archeology of colonial Virginia. But in the final analysis the Clay Bank site was to prove less rich and less historically important (owing to a lack of adequate documentation) than had been anticipated. On the credit side, however, it did contribute new facts relating to building construction in 17th-century Virginia, as well as yielding a series of closely dated tools and miscellaneous artifacts, plus one piece of glass that is not only without parallel in America, but which is of sufficient importance to merit a place in the annals of English glass. For this one object alone, the Clay Bank project would have been eminently worthwhile.

Historical Background

Archeology may be termed the handmaiden of history in that it is truly the servant of the historian, providing information that is not to be gleaned from documentary records. At best it is a poor substitute for the written word, but when the two are used together the pages of history may acquire an enlivening new dimension. This is particularly true of American colonial history where the documentation often is extremely full.

Unfortunately Gloucester County was one of those whose Court Records were destroyed during the Civil War, and it is difficult and often impossible to establish property histories over an extended period of time. However, it is debatable just how much of the blame can be laid at the doors of war, as many of the county's colonial records had already been destroyed in a fire at the clerk's office of the Gloucester courthouse in 1820.

No acceptable evidence has been found to definitely identify the original owner or the name of the building revealed by the 1962 excavations, though it has been supposed that the adjacent "Ardudwy" (the present home of Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins) was originally named "New Bottle" and was built by Robert Porteus at the beginning of the 18th century. It was hoped that artifacts found on the site might provide evidence to support the Porteus association, but nothing conclusive was forthcoming. The only conceivable shred of evidence, thin to the point of transparency, was provided by a handsome 17th-century latten spoon bearing a thistle as its touchmark, suggesting, perhaps, that it was made by a Scots craftsman. As the family of Edward Porteus, the emigrant and father of Robert Porteus, came from New Bottle in Scotland, it might be argued that the spoon was among Edward's possessions when he arrived in Virginia. Such a deduction is readily assailable, but it is no more so than much other "documentation" relating to the Porteus family in Virginia.

The distinguished Gloucester County historian, Dr. William Carter Stubbs undertook considerable research into the history of the Porteus family, the results of which may be summarized as follows: Edward Porteus was living in Gloucester County by 1681 in which year he married the widow of Robert Lee. He died in 1694 leaving a widow and one son, "Capt." Robert Porteus who became heir to "New Bottle" plantation. Robert married the daughter of John Smith of "Purton" and after her death he married a daughter of Governor Edmund Jennings of "Rippon Hall" in York County. His two wives bore him 19 children, the best known of whom was Beilby Porteus who was born in 1731 after Robert had returned to England (in about 1727) to live at York. Beilby Porteus became Bishop of Chester and then of London, and died in 1808. Robert lived on in York until his death in 1758.[2]

The location of "New Bottle" has been the subject of dispute for many years, and as the recent excavations have done nothing to resolve the matter, it is not necessary to explore the conflicting opinions and evidence in detail. It is enough to recall that the Vestry Book of Petsworth Parish[3] clearly places Robert Porteus in the Second Precinct which extended from Bennit's Creek up the York River to Jones' Creek. The First Precinct had begun at Clay Bank Creek and had reached to Bennit's Creek. Today most of these names have been changed; Clay Bank Creek is marked as Aberdeen Creek, the creek at Clay Bank which was apparently originally known as Bennit's Creek now has no name at all, and only Jones' Creek remains the same.

The only extant map that shows both Clay Bank Creek and Bennit's Creek is the Augustine Herman map of Virginia and Maryland published in 1673 (fig. 1). But this shows Bennit's Creek as being as long as the present Jones' Creek, while the latter is omitted from the map altogether. However, as the parish records delineating the bounds of the precincts in 1709 refer to both Bennit's Creek and Jones' Creek there cannot have been any confusion between them. It is therefore reasonably well established that the Porteus property lay between those creeks, which would place it north of the modern community of Clay Bank and south of Jones' Creek. Although it has not been proved that the Porteus land included the York River frontage, it is reasonable to suppose that it did. Thus, if that conjecture is accepted, it becomes highly probable that the present "Ardudwy" and the adjacent early foundation are on what were once Porteus acres.