NHER 1246 (Monument record) - Site of medieval buildings and other features, All Saints' Street

1966-1967. Excavation.
The earliest occupation on the site appears to date from the late 11th century, when the watercourse had silted up.
The next phase of activity on the site comprised the digging of a large drainage ditch with steep sides and a flat base, sloping gently to the west where it narrowed to a bottleneck, perhaps to help cope with rising tides. Other contemporary features are fragmentary and it may be that drainage was necessary before the area could become more intensively occupied. Further drainage channels were excavated and once the ground had been drained sufficiently a post-built house was erected. Associated with this building was a plank-lined pit, perhaps used for storage, although it had been filled with rubbish in the last stage of its use. This phase of drainage has been dated to the early or middle 12th century on the basis of the pottery.
Immediately after these two phases of drainage, the site appears to have been intensively occupied. It appears to have been divided by wattle fences into four separate properties which stretched from north to south across the site. No dwellings associated with this land division were found but this is probably because they were closer to the street frontage beyond the northern extent of the excavated area. In the yard associated with the easternmost property was a compacted ground surface with evidence of burning, suggesting that some sort of industrial activity had taken place here. The width of the second property could be measured since fences on both the east and west were located by the excavation. This plot was between 16 and 17 feet wide. A large proportion of the property was covered by a cobbled surface and post-holes may indicate a shelter or lean-to against the western boundary fence. The width of the third property varied between 15 and 16 feet, and the westernmost boundary was clearly defined, with burnt daub found beside it suggesting that the wattle fences were daubed with clay. Evidence of occupation was concentrated in the northernmost part of the property where a large irregular area of peat had been laid down, bounded on one side by a wattle fence and on the other by an area of cobbles. It is possible that these features are the remains of a small hut built against the boundary fence. The two pits contained much dung, suggesting the presence of domestic animals, and it is possible that the hut was a byre with a turf roof which had collapsed and was preserved as a layer of peat. The fourth property, furthest to the west, was only partially investigated as most of it lay beneath Bridge Street. It contained a number of well-preserved wattle fences, which probably formed the walls of a byre. Cobbles connected this property with that to the east and seemed to have served as access through the boundary fence.
The final timber building phase, approximately dated by the pottery to the first half of the 13th century, comprised a redivision of the land into two parts. The western part of the site showed evidence of intensive activity, whereas the eastern half was almost devoid of activity. Within the eastern half the dominant feature was a very large irregular pit containing heavily burnt occupation debris and a high proportion of organic material, especially dung. It was very rich in pottery and small finds including a leather sole and a wooden bowl. It is possible that this feature may have been the floor of a hut or shelter, or perhaps the floor of a byre. The western part of the site was dominated by hearths with spreads of burnt material around them. The site was first occupied by a hearth, a circular hut, and a well. Subsequently the southern part of the burnt area was cut through by the posts of a fairly substantial building. Another well to the north of the site was lined with two wooden barrels, one inside the other, and is similar to that found at the Marks and Spencer site.
By the middle of the 13th century use of the site had again changed. The most notable feature of this phase was a very substantial stone wall with gravel foundation which surrounded almost all of the southern half of the site. Most of the stone had been robbed but the foundation was so large that the outline of the building remained clear. The structure contained at least two rooms and extended from east to west across the excavated area, with its gable end facing Bridge Street. At the corner of one room a small niche with a sloping stone floor was built into the wall; this was probably a latrine. This masonry building was surrounded by a yard which contained a large number of pits and an industrial complex at its north-west corner.
The stone walls and foundation trenches survived into the late medieval period, and formed the backbone of later additions (similar to that observed at the Marks and Spencer site). Several brick walls were constructed, along with drains and another latrine. Further brick buildings and the retaining walls of a brick cellar were constructed, and contained a mixture of medieval and later pottery and small finds including a coin of 1825. The site remained in occupation until 1965 when cottages, built on the line of the medieval stone foundations, were demolished.
See (S1) for further information. See also (S2) and (S3).
E. Rose (NAU) amended by A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 7 March 2019.

(S4) in file which seems in other details to refer to this site, states that an almost intact Scarborough Ware jug, 'the finest found in the country', was also discovered.
E. Rose (NLA), 26 September 2006.