NHER 50067 (Monument record) - Medieval pit and 17th century construction trench to rear of 174 King Street

April 2007. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of excavation of trench for lightwell at rear of the 17th-century property at 174 King Street (NHER 26336). From Context 1.
These excavations revealed a large pit that had been gradually backfilled in the medieval period. The pit appears to have been excavated in the 15th or 16th century and its large size suggests it could have been a quarry pit for the extraction of sand or gravel for use in the continued building and development on King Street in this period. The finds from the pit indicate dumps of mixed waste material including skinning waste, small amounts of hornworking waste and good quality meat bones. The small amount of hornworking and the skinning of more unusual animals such as cat and otter does indicate at least some industrial or craft activity here. The construction trench for the present 17th century house could be seen truncating the medieval layers and fills of the large pit. A compressed probable garden soil containing medieval and post medieval pottery was also observed. There was no evidence for the original means of access to the visible arched entrance of the 17th century cellar.
See report (S1) for further details. See also (S2).
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.576).
A. Cattermole (NLA), 21 August 2007. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 17 May 2019.