NHER 1228 (Monument record) - Site of medieval wharf and building, Thoresby College

For details of Thoresby College previously recorded under this number, see NHER 63575.

April and May 1964. Excavation.
Two trenches were excavated in the northern half of the courtyard of Thoresby College. The excavation was designed to investigate the earliest settlement of the town, occupation of the site before the construction of Thoresby College and the course of the river during the medieval period.
The western trench (Trench A) did not reveal any medieval finds or features since it was occupied by an 18th century brick cellar which appeared to extend over the whole western area of the courtyard.
Trench B, which measured 4.6m by 6.1m (15ft by 20ft), lay in the north-eastern quarter of the courtyard. Within this trench were found the remains of a medieval wooden wharf. The wharf ran from north to south some 55m (60 yards) from the present east bank of the River Ouse. The exposed parts of the wharf consisted of four upright oak posts supporting horizontal planks which retained the river bank. An anchor beam ran from beside one of the uprights into the bank, at right angles to the face of the wharf. The planks averaged 0.9m (3ft) long and 0.2m (8in) wide. The earth to the east of the wharf was a compact silt containing a scatter of dark occupation material. To the west of the wharf was loose black occupation material which was heavily waterlogged. The material surrounding the wharf appeared to date from the late 13th to early 14th century. It included fragmentary pottery, an iron knife, an almost complete iron key and some fragments of leather including three almost complete soles. A fragment of coarse woven woollen cloth was identified as Icelandic wadmal, perhaps part of a garment or more likely an offcut used as packing material around more expensive goods being imported into Lynn. The wharf was at a depth of 2.8m to 4.6m (9.33 ft to 15 ft) below the present ground surface, suggesting considerable accumulation between the construction of the wharf and the construction of Thoresby College.
According to (S1) the wharf appears to have been constructed in the earliest part of the 13th century, but (S2) suggests it was built in the late 13th century. The wharf appears to have been abandoned in the late 14th century and the site appears to have become open ground, perhaps a dockyard (S2). At the end of the 14th century a thick layer of clean silt was spread across the site, perhaps to level it and to attempt to dry it out. A substantial brick building was then erected on the site, three walls of which were found during the excavation. (S2) suggests that this building probably belonged to the Gild of Jesus and occupied the site until it was purchased by Thomas Thoresby at the beginning of the 16th century.
At the time of excavation this was the first wharf of this kind to have been discovered in England. The position of the wharf indicates a much greater change in the river line than had been assumed from documentary evidence.
See (S1) and (S2) for further information.
A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 25 February 2020.