NHER 67183 (Monument record) - Undated burials and wall foundation

August-November 2013. Watching Brief.
Maintained during redevelopment of King Street Square.
A large hole dug for tree planting in the south-west corner of St Giles Car Park exposed three human skeletons at a depth of approximately 0.7m below ground level. Two were aligned east-to-west while the third (of which only the legs were exposed) appeared to be orientated more north-east to south-west. The one skeleton that was fully exposed had two large flints placed to either side of its head, suggesting it had not been interred within a coffin. These burials were almost certainly of Late Saxon or medieval date and associated with the nearby (now lost) church of St Giles (NHER 5894). Dating evidence was though limited to a single sherd of Late Saxon pottery, which was found in the vicinity of central burial. These burials were temporarily lifted and then reinterred as close as possible to their original positions.
The deposit containing the southernmost burial was overlain by a chalk surface and what was probably an associated bedding layer.
A smaller hole dug to the south-east to locate service runs exposed an east-to-west aligned wall foundation comprising chalk blocks bonded with a sandy pale brown mortar.
A trench dug between the north-easternmost part of King Street Square and St Giles Car Park revealed only a probable subsoil deposit, from which a second sherd of Late Saxon pottery was recovered. A number of fragments of disarticulated human bone were also noted within this layer.
See report (S1) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2025.126).
P. Watkins (HES), 1 August 2023 and 24 August 2024.