NHER 51338 (Monument record) - Late Saxon road and buildings and medieval Friary building

October 2007. Geotechnical Investigation.
5 probes were taken across the site and soil samples and gas tests were taken.
See report (S1) for further information.
H White (NLA) 11 November 2008.

March 2008. Excavation. Contexts 1-111.
Excavation adjacent to the Daynes Sports Hall recorded remains dated from the Late Saxon to the Post medieval period.
The earliest features observed were a group of post holes dated by artefacts and stratigraphy to the Late Saxon period. No coherent plan could be discerned amongst these features, but it is possible that they were related to a structure. One of the post holes contained a fragment of fired clay with wattle impressions and the post holes appear to have been contemporaneous with a pit contained metalworking debris.
These features were sealed by a north-south road with a metalled surface which has also been dated to the Late Saxon period. The road was founded on a spread of debris which may have been from an industrial process as it contained charcoal, burnt clay, oyster shell, mussel shell and metalworking debris. A well-defined rut was preserved along the western edge of this layer and this was found to contain pottery and animal bone. The road itself was metalled with small stones and metalworking debris (all ferrous, primarily secondary smithing lumps and cinder), and a set of wheel ruts was preserved in this surface as well although the metalling was only preserved on the southern portion of the road. The projected line of the road brings it close to the site of St. Ethelbert's Church (NHER 579), which was constructed in the Late Saxon period.
The remains of what was likely a cellared building were identified to the west of the road. Its form and function cannot be certain as it was not completely exposed, but it has been suggested that the building could have been used for antler working as a relatively large quantity of antler working debris was recovered from the surface of the road. The fill of the structure contained Thetford ware, and few fragments of burnt Roman tile, and oyster and mussel shell. Other features dated to this period include a possible cess pit and a possible quarry pit. Analysis of animal bone collected from the Late Saxon deposits has identified remains of deer, hare, dog, cat, equid, salmon species, pike and herring as well as cattle, sheep or goat, and pig.
In 1292 this land came into the ownership of the Franciscan Friary (NHER 373). The excavation recorded remains of a substantial building of this period which was previously unknown. The only upstanding masonry from the building was an east-west flint cobble wall at the south of the excvated area. The wall was founded on a substantial banded footing and a small area of faced flint had been preserved in one corner, indicating the contemporary ground level. A second banded footing perpendicular to the wall was found to cut the foundation footings of the wall and has been interpreted as a buttress. An east-west construction cut was also identified, indicating a second wall which had been completely robbed out. This wall appears to have been smaller, and artefacts recovered from the foundation date the construction to the 15th century or later. It was initially believed that the Greyfriars cemetery extended into this area, but no evidence of the cemetery was encountered. A human skull identified as the remains of a young adult male was recovered from the north-eastern corner of the site, but the nature of the soils in which it was found suggests that the skull had been buried in the modern era, possibly following accidential discovery during previous building work.
Post medieval features were limited to a single pit into which wet mortar appears to have been tipped. A large modern pit and a levelling deposit associated with the construction of the modern building has reduced the level of the site to the natural soil in some areas, truncating the archaeological remains.
See assessment report (S2) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S3).
See also (S4) and (S5).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2011.381 and NWHCM : 2016.176).
H. Hamilton (NLA), 10 September 2008. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 21 June 2019.