NHER 37722 (Monument record) - Medieval buildings and occupation debris, single post-medieval burial, west of Broad Street

February 2003-March 2005. Trial Trenching and Excavation.
Evaluation of proposed redevelopment area in 2003 (Trenches 15-17), following by archaeological monitoring and targeted excavation during site clearance and construction work in 2005 (Area C).
The earliest deposits on this site comprised sterile marine sediments overlain by a multitude of thick sterile, undulating flood lain deposits interleaved with ‘microstratified’ domestic dumped deposits — many containing pig, cattle, sheep/goat and domestic fowl bones, oyster, whelk, mussel and cockle shells. Nine sherds of an 11th-century Thetford ware jar was retrieved from the base of the sequence; otherwise related ceramics dated to the 12th century onwards. This sequence is characteristic of an area subject to rapid and dynamic change brought about by tidal flooding, with intensive human activity. It is unclear whether any of the evidence attests to occupation of the western part of this area during this early period, or whether the remains encountered instead relate to dumping of waste in this area. In the south-eastern part of the site an area of stone, a pit, a stone-lined stakehole and a series of stakes probably indicate use of marginal areas between reclaimed land and river channels. It appears that the area of stone was deliberately dumped to create a rough working platform. A plank noted in the eastern area of the excavation may have been part of a crude walkway across a wet-spot, or to allow access to a working area.
The second phase of activity on this site dates from the 13th to 15th centuries. A north–south orientated timber building consisting of three substantial post-pits and a line of NE–SW aligned wattle work, represented by stakeholes is thought to be contemporary with a trough-shaped oven or hearth and a remnant of a wooden floor surface. A sunken-floored timber structure may be a building or
room, but is perhaps more likely to have been either a purpose-built cess pit or perhaps a disused tanning pit re-used as a rubbish pit. Beam slots and post-pads indicate a large timber structure, but these appear to have been fairly short-lived and by the late 13th to 14th century had been replaced by stone buildings with laid floor surfaces. Stone structures in the western part of the site appear to represent the full width (but not length) of a tenement building. The building would have measured 7.40m in width. A wall extended to the north suggesting that the building measured some 30m in length, and faced onto New Conduit Street. Two further walls presumably form a corridor entrance way that would have run the length of the building. A possible comparison can be made to the outline of No. 8 Purfleet Street (NHER 19447) a possibly late 14th-century merchant’s house that survived with alterations until 1967. Another substantial stone-built building was revealed in the south-eastern part of the site and is thought to have been extant until at least the 16th century. A garderobe relating to this building was revealed further to the north. There was also an area containing many intercutting pits. A small central sondage revealed a series of clay and ashy silt layers, a mortar surface overlaid by a hardstanding consisting of dumped tiles, and a beam slot. This suggests timber structures and domestic activity, but the absence of pottery and bone or any other finds from the deposits indicates that this was likely to have been a workshop or possibly an open working area.
The third phase of activity on this site dates from the 15th to 16th centuries. The evidence from this period comprises several pits, including one containing the remains of a wooden barrel which had been cut in half and the end removed. This appeared to have been used as a toilet in the back yard of a property.
An adult inhumation was revealed within the stone building which faced onto New Conduit Street. It appeared to have been cut into one of the internal walls of the building and the body was in a narrow wooden coffin, which suggested an early post-medieval date for the inhumation. The rectangular coffin suggests a pre-1730 date. It is thought to be an outlier from the Quaker burial ground excavated to the north (NHER 37719) associated with the Friends' Meeting House on New Conduit Street (NHER 63553).
See published monograph (S1) for full details. See also evaluation report (S2) and assessment report (S3). The results of this work are also summarised in (S4).
J. Allen (NLA), 19 March 2007. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 27 May 2015 and A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 4 February 2020.