NHER 26508 (Monument record) - Early post medieval occupation, Ber Street/Thorn Lane/Horns Lane

Ber Street/Thorn Lane/Horns Lane.
Includes area of sites NHER 422, NHER 362, NHER 26177.

April 1999. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of former waste paper depot, including Royal Oak Court, in advance of redevelopment.
The origins of urban development on Ber Street and in the surrounding area are not well understood, but no Saxon or medieval features were encountered during the work. The earliest recorded activity appears to date to the late 15th to 17th centuries, a series of deep pits and depressions apparently representing quarrying of the underlying sand and clay. Metalworking debris, including numerous fragments of clay bell-mould, were deliberately dumped in these features. It is likely that bellfounding was carried out on an industrial scale at the site or nearby during the 16th or early 17th century. Quarrying activity seems to have been quite short-lived and a thick 'garden soil' accumulated across the site during the post medieval period. A timber structure recorded in one of the trenches was of uncertain date and function.
Finds recovered included:
Late Saxon, medieval and post medieval pottery and medieval metalwork and animal remains.
See report (S1) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S2).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2011.53).
Compiled by E. Rose (NLA), 2 July 1999. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 12 May 2019.