NHER 51320 (Monument record) - Medieval and post medieval features, 100 St Benedict's Street

September 2006. Desk-based Assessment.
Assessment of proposed development site.
A Roman road is suspected of being on the same alignment at St Benedict's Street, and occasional finds suggest the possibility of a Roman settlement to the north-west of the site.
The site lies within Westwick, a Saxon settlement area which eventually formed a suburb to the city. Saxon finds are known from the assessment area, but are residual rather than in-situ. The main area of Saxon settlement is likely to be further north.
During the medieval period the site was located on the periphery of the city, adjacent to St Benedict's Church which had been founded by the end of the 11th century. The block of land in which the development falls was granted to Buckenham Priory. During the 13th century the city defences comprising a bank, a later wall and a ditch, passed alongside the western boundary of the site. Some of the assessment area may have been used to provide an intramural lane which allowed unrestricted access to the walls.
The post medieval period saw continued use of the rectory established by Buckenham Priory, which was last mentioned around 1800. The ditch of the town defences had been filled in by the 18th century and development occurred along both sides of the city wall. By the 19th century, extensive occupation existed on all the street frontages. Cartographic sources indicate that the site has been occupied since at least the 17th century. Widespread clearance of the area occurred prior to 1937 and following extensive bombing in 1942.
The site is currently occupied by standing buildings.
See report (S1) for further details.
A. Cattermole (NLA), 16 April 2008.

May 2008. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site. Contexts 1-90.
The first trench was located at the west side of the development area close to Wellington Lane. Two pits were recorded which truncated natural sand and gravel deposits. They are likely to have been 13th-14th century in date and were probably sand and/or chalk extraction pits. Dating evidence was scared, and consisted of two sherds of medieval pottery. Sealing one of the pits was a compacted chalk floor, which covered most of the trench but was truncated by modern wall footings. A post hole was recorded in the north-west part of the trench. A single sherd of 15th-16th century pottery was recovered from the silt deposit above the chalk floor, which was probably lain down as a levelling material prior to the construction of buildings indicated by the discovery of three wall segments. Cartographic evidence and the reuse of 15th-16th century bricks suggest a construction date within the 18th century. A wall stub was recorded in the west trench section, and is constructed entirely of flint nodules. The base of a brick structure dating to the late 19th/ early 20th century was recorded in the north part of the trench, and appears to form the base of a chimney breast.
The second trench was located on the north side of the development area, close to St Benedict's Street. A large pit was recorded in the south-east corner of the trench, and residual 13th-14th pottery sherds were recovered. Bricks from the feature date from the 15th-16th century. This pit most likely represents sand and/or chalk extraction. A post-hole was located on the northern edge of the pit. No finds were recovered from the fill.
See report (S2) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S3).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.471).
H. White (NLA), 2 December 2008. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 27 April 2019.

February-March 2009. Excavation (contexts from 100).
Medieval activity on the site was characterised by quarrying with a number of large pits. The western area of the site developed during the late medieval period and an oven, two wells cesspit, floor surface and one cellared structure were revealed. The late medieval street-front lies beneath St Benedict's Street to the north and the excavation only covered the backyards and very rear of the street-front buildings.
In the post-medieval period no evidence for quarrying was revealed and it is assumed that it is during this period when the street-front developed and the cellared buildings constructed. The buildings were destroyed during World War II and the cellars backfilled with building rubble. The site was used as emergency housing but this left little evidence. In the 1970's the site was redeveloped which lead to the truncation of upper archaeological deposits. In the post-medieval period St Benedict's Street was widened and the fronts of the medieval and post-medieval street-front buildings were buried beneath the present road.
Finds from the site included one struck flint of possible prehistoric date and flints possibly associated with flint knapping associated with building construction during the late medieval and post-medieval periods. Pottery dating to the Middle Saxon, medieval and post-medieval periods was recovered. A number of fragments from 17th century clay tobacco pipes were recovered from a number of contexts. An assemblage of animal bones appears to have derived as waste from butchery and included the main domesticates, rabbit and fish.
Final report awaited. See assessment report (S4) for further details.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2010.88).
S. Howard (HES), 1 March 2011. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 27 April 2019.