NHER 5868 (Monument record) - Possible site of St Edmund's Church and Late Saxon occupation

Discovery of foundations for a large building in 1957 (see NHER 50547) has led to the identification of this site as the likely location of St. Edmund's church. The church may have had pre-Conquest origins, and is known to have been in use in 1291 and 1368 (S1). Bryant (S2) and Blomefield (S3) note that St. Edmunds became a chapel during the reign of Henry IV (1399-1413), and was demolished at the Reformation. The site of St Edmund's church is depicted at this location on the 1883 Ordnance Survey map (S4), and an unidentified church is marked at roughly this location on Martin's map of 1740 (S5). However, Blomefield (S3) located St Edmund's church slightly south of the town, in Suffolk, and Batcock (S1) has suggested that the remains recorded at the Old Gasworks are not of St Edmund's.
H. Hamilton (NLA), 1 February 2008.

1870. Casual Find.
Pottery sherds, bone awls, stone and bone amulets, and hut sites were recorded in this field (now occupied by the gasworks), and across the road (presumably the site at St Mary's Estate, NHER 5847, but also possibly from the Saxon occupation at NHER 5758). The finds are thought to date to the Saxon period based on comparison with those across the road.
Information from note by W.G. Clarke in an article in (S6).
H. Hamilton (NLA), 31 January 2008.

Around 1902. Casual Find.
The skeleton of a 'full grown child' was discovered in a garden plot adjacent to the gas works on Bury Road approximately five years prior to the discovery of an inhumation in a stone coffin (see below). In 1907 a stone marked the location of the burial.
It is uncertain whether this garden plot was located within the area included in NHER 5868 or NHER 5759.
Information from (S7), in file.
H. Hamilton (NLA), 31 January 2008.

1907. Casual Find.
An inhumation in a stone coffin (orientated east-west) was discovered while gardening in a plot adjoining the gas works on Bury Road. No identification was found either in the interior or exterior of the coffin, which had a plain lid with a ridge down the center. Earth was removed around the coffin, revealing remains of a possible vault. Possible foundations were also revealed at a slight distance from the coffin, and it is thought that these may have belonged to a church.
It is uncertain whether this garden plot was located within the area included in NHER 5868 or NHER 5759.
Information from (S7), in file.
H. Hamilton (NLA), 31 January 2008.

1957. Excavation.
EXCAVATIONS BY G. KNOCKER (Ministry of Works) PREVIOUSLY RECORDED UNDER THIS RECORD ARE NOW RECORDED AS NHER 50547.
H. Hamilton (NLA), 31 January 2008.

1977. Field Observation.
A foundation trench was excavated, parallel to the eastern boundary of the site. No features were identified and finds were limited to a small quantity of animal bone, five sherds of Thetford ware, and one possible early medieval sherd [1].
A. Rogerson, 5 October 1977.

1978. Find.
A portion of a human skeleton was retrieved from a trench on the site of the gasworks. Many more bones were visible in the section immediately beneath the concrete floor. The bones had likely been previously disturbed when the floor was inserted [2].
Information from file.
A. J. Lawson, 27 April 1978.

1982. Watching Brief.
Groundworks for the construction of offices for the gas board were monitored. Located within an area of the site where no buildings are visible on the 1883 OS map (S4), the excavations reached a depth of 40cm and revealed only recent brick rubble and tarmac. No archaeological finds or features were encountered.
Information from file.
H. Hamilton (NLA), 31 January 2008.

June 1996. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of the excavation of test pits revealed archaeological remains in 8 of 14 pits. Pits or burials were identified in four of the test pits. Finds were recovered from 6 of the pits and included Thetford Ware pottery and animal and human bone.
See report (S9) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S14) and (S15).
H. Hamilton (NLA), 1 February 2008.

2001. Find.
British Gas reported finding human bones in a pipe trench within the works. The remains were reburied on site.
E. Rose (NLA), 23 July 2001.

November 2007. Geophysical Survey.
A ground penetrating radar and electromagnetic survey was carried out across the site. Features were difficult to distinguish from the infrastructure of the former gas works. However, several features of possible archaeological significance were identified. These have been interpreted as masonry footings and/or pits. These were concentrated in the area immediately south of the foundations identified in 1957 (NHER 50547), believed to represent the remains of St Edmund's church.
See report (S10) for further details.
H. Hamilton (NLA), 1 February 2008.

November 2007-December 2007. Trial Trenching.
A number of features dating to the Late Saxon phase of the town were revealed and included pits, post-holes, ditches and evidence for iron smelting. The pottery assemblage recovered indicates that activity on the site dates from the late 10th to early 11th century. The trenches located in the garden of 13 Bury Road revealed chalk walls, a probable floor and burials that could relate to the former medieval church. The grave cuts truncated the chalk walls, which could suggest that burial at this location continued after the church was demolished. Other finds from the site included Roman, medieval and post-medieval pottery and ceramic building material.
See report (S12) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S13).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2011.103).
S. Howard (HES), 31 August 2011. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 12 May 2019.

July 2012-December 2013. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with remediation works at former gasworks site.
This work took place in several stages, the first of which saw the excavation of a series of test trenches to ascertain the level of contamination present. This was followed by the removal of up to 4m of material from the north-west part of the site and the excavation and removal of two metal tanks to the south. A 'liquor tank' was also opened and emptied.
It was clear that the site had been significantly impacted by activity associated with the gasworks. The natural gravely sand was obviously truncated across much of the remediation area, lying directly beneath a sequence of modern layers comprising building material, concrete, hardcore and gravel. Surviving archaeological remains it was possible to observe during the remediation works included a dark grey brown layer containing frequent animal bones and pottery sherds. The upper portion of this deposit had also been truncated by the modern activity. Two articulated skeletons were also partially uncovered at the northern edge of the investigation area - these had almost certainly been additional burials within the churchyard of St Edmund’s Church. The exposed remains were covered and left in situ.
Unfortunately no finds could be recovered due to the contaminated nature of the soils.
See report (S16) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 11 May 2022.

January-February and April 2018. Excavation.
This final phase of archaeological mitigation prior to the redevelopment of the former gasworks site saw the excavation a roughly 'L'-shaped area in the south-east part of the site.
This work revealed further evidence for Late Saxon activity, with numerous pits of probable 10th- to 11th-century date uncovered. The pottery recovered from these features is predominantly Thetford ware of local manufacture. Although there are more earlier than later vessel forms, most occur alongside intermediate or late forms, indicating the majority of the Saxon features were associated with activity taking place between the late 10th and 11th centuries. A small number of sherds are from imported vessels that may have still been in use as late as the mid 13th century but early medieval and high medieval pottery is notably absent.
More than 70 Late Saxon pits were recorded, which varied considerably in form and size, with a number being quite substantial, deep features. Most contained single, homogenous fills of dark brown/grey silty sand. Two undated north-to-south aligned ditches were probably also associated with this phase of activity, although these produced no dating evidence. The majority of the undated pits recorded were also most likely Late Saxon, as were a number of undated post-holes scattered across the southern half of the excavated area.
No burials were encountered, although one of the pits was found to contain a poorly preserved human cranium
The finds recovered provide evidence for a number of craft and industrial activities taking place on or near the site. These include a group of objects that were probably associated with textile production, comprising a bone needle, a bone pin beater, a complete set of iron shears and two iron objects that may have been teeth from a carding comb. There was also evidence for ironworking, with a small assemblage of slag recovered (including tap slag from smelting), along with fragments of vitrified hearth lining and two adjoining fragments of a possible clay metal mould. Other finds from the Late Saxon pits included a reasonably large assemblage of animal bone, a small number of oyster shells, several fragments of lava quern and various undiagnostic fragments of fired clay. The animal bone assemblage includes a number of sheep/goat skull fragments and horncores that potentially represent butchery waste from hornworking. There is also evidence from the sheep-goat data that the majority of these animals were being kept to an older age, possibly to maximise fleece production.
There was little evidence for subsequent activity on the site with no remains of possible medieval or post-medieval date recorded. Apart from a single stoneware sherd post-medieval finds were limited to a small number of brick fragments of 19th-century or later date, the majority of which appeared to be intrusive within earlier pits.
See report (S17) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2018.33).
P. Watkins (HES), 31 July 2023.