NHER 55058 (Monument record) - Medieval and undated ditches and later garden features

October 2010. Trial Trench.
Evaluation of site of proposed extension to St Andrew’s Church.
The single trench excavated revealed a deep sequence of soils, with natural deposits lying approximately 1.2m below the modern ground level.
A feature exposed at the northern edge of the trench was probably the edge of a north-east to south-west aligned ditch. This probable ditch produced two medieval pottery sherds and a medieval floor tile and ran parallel to the adjacent churchyard boundary.
A parallel linear feature to the south may have been another ditch, although it was much shallower and somewhat irregular, leading to the suggestion that it may have been some form of horticultural or garden feature. This linear feature also produced a small number of medieval pottery sherds. These feature were overlain by deep, humic garden soils.
Unstratified finds recovered during this work included a small number of post-medieval pottery sherds, a fragment of undatable lava quern and several animal bones.
The complete absence of human remains is notable, indicating that the adjacent churchyard never extended to the south of its present position.
See report (S1) for further details.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 6 February 2018.

May-July 2012. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with construction of extension to St Andrew’s Church.
The excavation of foundation trenches for the new building exposed three parallel east-to-west aligned linear features. The northernmost of these features was a ditch that lay directly beneath the existing churchyard wall. It produced an assemblage of medieval pottery and was been interpreted as an earlier churchyard boundary. The two other linear features had both been observed during the preceding evaluation of the site. Additional medieval pottery sherds were recovered from the larger ditch, whilst a single sherd of post-medieval pottery was recovered from the southernmost feature, which was again interpreted as a possible garden feature.
The unstratified finds recovered were predominantly of post-medieval date and included a range of pottery sherds, clay tobacco pipe fragments, bottle glass and a small number of metal objects.
As during the earlier work no human remains were encountered, confirming that the churchyard had always lain to the north of this site.
See report (S2) for details. Archaeological discoveries made during the excavation of foundation and service trenches within the churchyard itself are now recorded under NHER 63087.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2012.221).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 15 November 2018 and 16 May 2019.

June-July 2017. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with the extension of an existing carpark in the grounds of Gresham's School, immediately adjacent to the new extension to St Andrew’s Church.
Across much of the development area groundworks only disturbed the previously observed deep garden soils, with possible natural deposits only exposed in a small area at the eastern edge of the site. Here a possible ditch and a discrete feature of some kind were observed, although as neither was excavated their nature and date remain uncertain. The linear feature ran parallel to the wall that forms the eastern boundary of the site. Another linear feature exposed at the southern edge of the site contained brick rubble and was interpreted as either a wall foundation or a backfilled robber trench. A series of parallel dark strips observed at the western end of the site were probably the remains of cultivation features. These linear features were truncated by a single pit of unknown, but presumably relatively recent date.
Finds were limited to post-medieval and modern objects, none of which were retained.
See report (S3) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2019.275).
P. Watkins (HES), 15 November 2018. Amended 9 December 2022.