NHER 67103 (Monument record) - Late medieval to post-medieval remains

August-September 2020. Watching Brief and Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
Prior to the commencement of the trial trenching an initial phase of monitoring was undertaken during demolition and site clearance works. The removal of concrete surfaces and floors associated with the outbuildings that had previously occupied the site revealed only modern rubble and made-ground deposits. An obviously old but much altered south-west to north-east aligned flint and brick wall was exposed at the south-east end of the site.
The main phase of work saw the excavation of two 4m x 4m trenches, both of which reached undisturbed natural geological deposits (at depths of c.7.03m OD and c.6.79m OD).
The finds recovered suggest that the deposits and features recorded were primarily associated with late medieval and post-medieval activity, with earlier finds largely limited to a small number of high medieval pottery sherds. Although a reasonably amount of late medieval and transitional pottery was recovered this mostly came from contexts that also produced later material – suggesting most had either been residual or came from vessels that had actually still been in use during the early post-medieval period.
In both trenches the natural geological deposits were overlain by sequences of what were interpreted as made-ground deposits. The lowest deposit in the southern trench produced one of the earliest groups of finds, comprising pottery suggestive of a late 15th- to 16th-century date, fragments of medieval ceramic building material, a piece of decorated medieval window glass, medieval and medieval/post-medieval metal objects and animal bone. This was cut by a possibly linear feature, the fill of which contained a single sherd of late medieval pottery. An overlying made-ground deposit contained a number of post-medieval finds, including pottery of 17th century date. This was cut by a pit-like feature that contained a fragment of post-medieval roof tile.
The earliest made-ground deposit encountered in the northern trench produced a mix of late medieval and post-medieval pottery suggestive of a 17th-century date, along with a fragment of post-medieval roof tile. The overlying layer produced the largest single assemblage of late medieval pottery, although this layer also produced a similar amount of post-medieval pottery, including some that cannot be earlier that 17th century in date. A fragment of post-medieval window glass, metal objects of medieval/post-medieval date and animal bone were also present in this deposit. A pit of probable 16th to 17th-century date was the only feature of likely early post-medieval date recorded in this trench.
A notable feature of the pottery recovered from potentially early post-medieval contexts is the number of Dutch and German vessels present within what is overall a relatively small assemblage. This pottery presumably represents waste from the houses along St Augustine’s Street and suggests that at least one of these dwellings had been occupied by a family of immigrants. Documentary evidence records the presence of such 'strangers' within St Augustine’s parish in the 1620s, witch fits well with the probable date of some of the more distinctive Dutch pottery from the site. The metal objects likely to have been associated with this late medieval to early post-medieval phase of activity are also of some interest as the assemblage includes a number of items that suggest the presence of a drapers or dressmaker’s workshop in the vicinity. These include a probable German thimble and an incomplete pair of scissors that are both of 16th- to 17th-century date and several drawn wire pins of 15th- to 17th-century date.
Samples taken from the made-ground deposits of probable late medieval to early post-medieval date were all found to contain charred cereal grains, along with charcoal and other material likely to represent domestic waste, including animal bone, fish bone and fish scales. Two samples (neither of which came from the earliest made-ground deposits) also produced significant quantities of clinker and coal fragments likely to represent residues from coal fires.
The majority of the other features and deposits recorded appear to have been associated with later post-medieval phases of activity. These included several pits of probable 18th- to 19th-century date and a cobbled yard surface that was likely of a similar age. These features and the uppermost of the made-ground deposits produced a range of later post-medieval finds, including pottery, brick and tile fragments, pieces of window glass and fragments of clay tobacco pipe.
See report (S1) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2020.137).
P. Watkins (HES), 23 May 2023.