NHER 1033 (Monument record) - Saxo-Norman and post-medieval to modern remains and possible site of undated inhumation burial

1974. Field Observation.
A ?construction trench located at the north corner of St Mary's Road and London Road was observed. Thetford ware was recovered from the site, and there were indications that an inhumation had been removed. Natural sand and gravel was reached at a depth of 1.5m at the north end of the site.
Compiled by S. Dunmore, April 1974. Information from record card (S1).
Updated H. Hamilton (NLA), 6 August 2008.

Finds identified by A. Rogerson (NAU) as 9 Thetford ware body sherds, 1 St Neots sherd and bowl rim, 1 body sherd green glazed on both surfaces, ?Late Grimston.
Compiled by A. Rogerson (NAU), January 1980. Information from record card (S1).

The finds (which were incorrectly marked as location [1]), are labelled as "R and A Developments site Dunmore and Carr" and are now held by Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 1998.269.2).
Compliled by A. Rogerson (NAU), 8 November 1985. Information from record card (S1).
Updated H. Hamilton (NLA), 6 August 2008.

Grid reference [1] corrected by E. Rose (NAU) and O. Bone (Thetford Museum).

November 1997.
This site had previously been incorrectly located in the angle of Bridge Street and St Mary's Road because the relief road, called London Road by the finders, was not marked on the map used in 1974.
The development site was called Fairstead House, now Cunningham and Johns.
E. Rose (NLA) 14 November 1997.

July 2022-March 2023. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with the redevelopment of this site.
The various trenches excavated revealed a number of features of probable Saxo-Norman date. Evidence for earlier activity was limited to a single abraded sherd of Middle Saxon Ipswich ware pottery. The bulk of the pottery recovered is Late Saxon Thetford Ware, suggesting the main phase of occupation at this location had commenced by at least the 11th century, with the continuation of activity into the post-Conquest period demonstrated by the presence of a small number of developed St Neots ware and early medieval ware sherds. Remains of probable Saxo-Norman date included a group of pits (one with at least three probable post-holes in its base) and a ditch recorded in a trench at the southern end of the site and and a number of ditches exposed by smaller excavations to the north. Other finds from these features included fragments of potentially structural fired clay, animal bone, oyster and mussel shells, a probable lava quern fragment, an iron nail, a piece of iron smithing slag and a small quantity of fuel ash slag. Samples taken from the fills of one of the ditches and two of the post-holes contained small quantities of charred cereal grains (including barley, oats, rye and wheat), along a range of other plant macrofossils – all likely to represent domestic waste. No possible graves were encountered, although a single fragment of human bone was recovered from one of the Saxo-Norman ditches.
Later medieval material was limited to a single unprovenanced glazed sherd, which was recovered from an otherwise undated ditch in the central part of the site. It therefore appears that activity at this location had probably largely ceased before the end of the 12th century – possibly as a result of a restructuring of landuse that took place following the founding of the Augustinian Priory of the Holy Sepulchre in 1140 (NHER 5749).
The other features recorded with all of much more recent date. These included a group of post-medieval features in the central part of the site that comprised three post-holes and two adjacent pits. This group contained pottery of 16th to 18th-century date and fragments of clay tobacco pipe (including a complete mid-17th-century bowl), along with Late Saxon pottery and other material potential residual from the earlier phase of activity.
The trench excavated at the southern end of the site revealed several features and structures of late post-medieval/modern date, all of which were probably related to the houses immediately to the south. These included two circular wells, a rectangular probable cess pit and the footings of some form of brick outbuilding (uncovered immediately to the north of the trench), all of which were constructed from Fletton-type bricks of 19th- or 20th-century date. Two pits were also associated with this phase of activity. It is suggested these remains were potentially related to the small enclosured yards and outbuildings shown to the rear of the buildings on the Ordnance Survey First Edition 25-inch map (S2), although these appear to have lain to the south of the recorded position of the trench.
At the northern edge of the site a small slot was excavated to investigate the brick and clunch boundary wall. The fill of its foundation trench was found to contain fragments of medieval or post-medieval roof tile and a piece of 19th-century or later window glass, along with residual earlier material. This wall is depicted on 19th-century maps, surrounding the large formal garden to the rear of The Limes (NHER 40802), which had occupied the entirety of this block of land.
See report (S3) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 30 July 2023.