NHER 26467 (Monument record) - Late Saxon to post medieval occupation, Read's Flour Mill, No. 238-249 King Street

November 1997. Trial Trench.
Single trench excavated revealed evidence for two main periods of activity:
The first dated to the Late Saxon or Norman periods (10th to 12th centuries ) and included a wall, floor, and hearth as well as a lined pit perhaps used as a well or latrine. The chapel of St Olave's, destroyed before the 14th century, is known to have stood in the area of the present flour mill. A dump of masonry waste including architectural fragments had been used in the 16th century to bed a floor and may have derived from the demolished church. These fragments were 12th century in character and could indicate a Norman origin for the chapel or perhaps suggest that alterations to it were made at this date.
During the late medieval/transitional period (15th to 16th centuries), a small yard or cellar was established with an associated sequence of floors and refuse dumps. Later cellars had been cut into earlier features and deposits.
See report (S1) for further details. For details of a building survey carried out at the same time see NHER 26125 and NHER 26126.
The results of this work are also noted in a newspaper article (S2) and summarised in (S3).
It is anticipated that the evidence from this site will be included in a forthcoming publication detailing the results of all archaeological work undertaken during the redevelopment of this area. See (S4) for further information.
R. Fillery-Travis (NLA), 13th March 2007. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 26 March 2015.