NHER 58770 (Monument record) - Remains of a possible Saxon or medieval building

June 2012. Watching Brief.
A portion of a wall foundation was recorded while monitoring excavation of three pits and connecting trenches in the grounds of St Michael's Church (NHER 4720). The wall was located approximately 1.3m from the northeast corner buttress of the north aisle. The lower part of the foundation was formed of compacted white chalk while the upper portion was comprised of flint nodules. A verticle edge was evident on the eastern side of the foundation, but the western side appeared to have been partially truncated. These remains are believed to be located too far from the existing church to be related to its current foundations. St Michael's Church (NHER 4720) is recorded in the Domesday Book and it is likely that a Late Saxon church occupied this site prior to the present building, but there is insufficient evidence to determine whether the wall foundations relate to an earlier church or to a separate structure contemporary with St Michael's Church.
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 : 2013.86).
H. Hamilton (HES), 28 March 2013. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 16 May 2019.