NHER 26587 (Monument record) - Multi-period finds and features at New Mills Yard, Oak Street

June-July 2001. Trial Trenching.
Excavation of five evaluation trenches.
Trenches 2, 4 and 5 revealed an old channel of the River Wensum overlain by 18th/19th century demolition layers.
Within trenches 1 and 3, closer to the street frontage, industrial activity (tannery) dating to the 13th to 14th centuries was found interleaved with a sequence of reclamation/refuse dumps which were abandoned from the 15th to the 17th centuries with cellared buildings appearing towards the 18th century and beyond.
See report (S1) for further details. The results of this work are summarised in (S2).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2005.7).
D. Gurney (NLA), 26 December 2001. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 5 May 2019.

April 2007. Desk-based Assessment.
Examination of the Sunlight Laundry site.
The site fronts onto the western side of Oak Street and comprises the front portion of three formerly longer historic plots that stretched from the road to the River Wensum. The map evidence suggests that the site and/or its constituent parts can be traced back to 1696. The geotechnical data indicates that there is the potential for good survival of archaeological remains buried at a depth of >2m below the present ground surface.
See report (S3) for details.
S. Howard (NLA), 9 July 2010.