NHER 39832 (Monument record) - Medieval cemetery associated with St Clement's Chapel and Roman ditches

1820. Casual Observation.
Demolition of ruins of St Clement’s Chapel (NHER 10231).
An account published in 1861 (S1) describes the chapel as having lain close to a former sand pit that is almost certainly a feature shown on the Braydeston/Brandeston title map (S2), at TG 3296 0803. This pit potentially extended into the north-west corner of the site.
It is recorded that a considerable quantity of human remains was disturbed during the demolition of the chapel ruins and the levelling of the surrounding ground. Most were presumably from disturbed medieval graves, although a number of 'urns' containing ashes were also discovered, raising the possibility that this had also been the site of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery.
See NHER 10231 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 20 July 2021.

Mid 19th-centuy. Stray Find.
The 1861 article (S1) also describes what was then still an open sand quarry to the rear of Brundall Station, where landslips regularly brought down "…a considerable quantity of human remains". This is almost certainly the long narrow 'sand pit' shown immediately to the west of this site on the Ordnance Survey First Edition Six-inch map (S3), flanking the eastern side of Station Road.
See NHER 10231 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 20 July 2021.

1880s. Stray Find.
In (S4) F. Johnson describes having observed human remains within the sand pit near Brundall Station.
See NHER 10231 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 20 July 2021.

November 2003. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
Revealed an undated burial and a possible Roman ditch.
In addition disarticulated human bone was recovered, possibly indicative of the presence of further disturbed inhumation burials. The archaeological remains were confined to Trench 1; the rest of the site revealed no archaeological features.
See report (S5) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S6).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2007.309).
A. Cattermole (NLA), 29 November 2004. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 5 May 2019.

2010-2012. Excavation.
Excavation of site of new residential dwellings.
This excavation revealed a dense group of 259 burials, all aligned roughly east-to-west. Many of the graves were intercut, indicating multiple phases of inhumation over a long period. That this was part of the cemetery associated with St Clement’s Chapel is confirmed by radiocarbon determinations obtained for two of the burials – one of which returned a Late Saxon/medieval date of 995-1154 cal AD at 95% probability (Wk-36999; 981 +/- 25 BP) and the other a medieval date of 1295-1405 cal AD at 95% probability (Wk-36998; 607 +/- 25 BP). The first of these is obviously of particular interest as it confirms the cemetery had been established by at least the mid 12th century. As is typical for medieval burials no obvious grave goods were identified and there was nothing to indicate the presence of coffins.
As during the earlier work it was clear that a certain amount of truncation had been caused by the house that previously occupied the site, although in some places undisturbed burials were found to survive beneath its foundations.
A substantial east-to-west aligned ditch at the southern end of the excavated area probably marked the southern limits of the cemetery as no burials were encountered beyond it. Burials were also only encountered at the southern end of a strip excavated for a new driveway, suggesting that the northern boundary of the cemetery may also have lain within the area investigated. The eastern extent of the cemetery remains uncertain, although previous discoveries to the east suggest it probably extends further in that direction, beneath the gardens of the 11 and 13 Station New Road (see NHER 10232). It is also possible that some additional burials may survive to the west of the excavated area, between the area excavated and the former quarry pits adjacent to Station Road (which are known to have disturbed burials).
A small number of worked flints and sherds of possible Bronze Age and Iron Age pottery provide some evidence for prehistoric activity in the vicinity of the site but no features of this date were identified. An assemblage of Roman pottery and a single Roman coin were also recovered and although much of this material was residual within the later graves, it is possible that several ditches cut by the medieval burials were associated with this phase of activity.
Information from draft Assessment and Updated Project Design. Final reports awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 20 July 2021.