NHER 45375 (Monument record) - Medieval wall, Norwich Cathedral

August 2006. Excavation.
An archaeological excavation was undertaken within the precinct of Norwich Cathedral, in close proximity to the former Bishops' Palace, now part of Norwich School. The excavation revealed the remains of a substantial flint and mortar wall, comparable in size to the precinct wall itself. It is likely that the wall was built following the expansion of the precinct by Bishop Salmon in 1318, acting as the boundary between the Bishop's Palace and the lay areas to the west. The wall was not upstanding but had toppled onto its side. The wall covered almost all of the excavation area, and (assuming that part would have been underground) it would have been at least 4m high when standing. The construction method, fabric and size of the wall all suggest a medieval date, although it lacks diagnostic features or stratigraphic associations needed to date it more precisely. The remains of the wall were topped by a pantile coping, suggesting that it was still in use in the 17th century, and therefore, unlike other buildings associated with the Bishops' Palace, it survived the decline brought about by the Reformation. Cartographic sources suggest this wall was demolished in the early 18th century, probably as part of a larger scale programme of landscaping and reordering within the cathedral close. Although it is impossible to precisely reconstruct the alignment of this wall it is likely that it ran from the slight dog-leg in the Palace Street precinct wall to somewhere near the north-west corner of de Losinga's tower.
As the wall covered much of the excavated area, little evidence for other activity was recorded. Two later features were noted, one a post-medieval pit containing brick and tile, and the other an ovoid steep-sided pit perhaps dug to act as a soakaway. The ovoid pit contained medieval bricks, a medieval glazed floor tile and post medieval roof tiles. Two limestone architectural fragments were also recovered from this pit, along with post medieval pottery, fragments of clay pipe (one including a complete bowl) and a single sherd of Late Saxon Thetford ware.
Unstratified finds from the site included large quantities of animal bone and medieval and post medieval ceramic building material. 28 sherds of unstratified pottery were recovered and dated from the Late Saxon, medieval and post medieval periods. Other finds include a Middle Saxon equal armed brooch (recovered by metal detector during machining) and a post medieval sandstone hone stone. Finds dating from the Middle and Late Saxon periods are further evidence for activity in this area prior to the foundation of the cathedral in 1096.
See report (S1) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S2).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.112).
A. Cattermole (NLA), 9 November 2007.