NHER 49121 (Monument record) - Possible site of demolished medieval building, Guildhall Yard

November 2006. Trial Trenching.
Trial holes opened in advance of proposed toilet extension to St George’s Guildhall NHER 5483.
On west side of buttress that marks west end of medieval guildhall before its extension, in recess before Red Barn, trench 700mm square opened by workmen under supervision of E. Rose (NLA). 400mm soil below brick pavement, resting on layer of bricks and slate, is of 20th century date. Below this was 140mm of black soil above a layer of brown clay 70mm thick. This in turn covered 160mm of chalky soil with lenses of clay and rubble; at the base 200mm black earth to bottom of trench. The buttress is of brickwork down to 750mm below surface, then rests on chalk footing.
To east, south of the toilet block of 1954, 150mm of road surface was removed to expose concrete footings of toilet block in hole 600mm square. The concrete butted on to a pavement of hand made yellow floor bricks to the south; this covered a wall footing of large lumps of ferruginous sandstone, of irregular width, set 500mm south of the toilet wall.
(S1) shows various small buildings in this area and a long covered passage extending from the archway to the east in the area covered by the toilet block. It seems quite possible that the wall footing relates to one of the stone built houses documented in this area in the Middle Ages, see sources in file for NHER 5483.
See (S2) for further information.
E. Rose (NLA), 20 November 2006.