NHER 60572 (Monument record) - Deposits relating to former extent of The Mere

October 2012. Borehole Survey and Test Pit.
Evaluation ahead of proposed extension.
The deposits recorded within two window samples indicate that The Mere once extended beyond its modern shores to at least the rear of the King's Head Hotel and probably further. Sediments approximately 4.0m below the surface have been tentatively interpreted as a retting pit, the upper fill of which is probably 17th century, and which may correspond to the building of the King's Head Hotel.
See report (S1) for further information. The results of this work are also summarised in (S2).
A. Cattermole (HES), 26 January 2015.

July 2018. Watching Brief and Borehole Survey.
Further archaeological investigation of sediments using data from deep borehole and four additional window samples. These revealed a 5m sequence of modern, post-medieval and potentially earlier, but undated deposits.
The uppermost made-ground deposits were up to 2m deep and represented post-medieval to modern yard surfaces, garden soils and dumped waste. Beneath was a series of thin organic deposits interspersed with thin layers of silt and sand. These deposits are likely to represent primarily natural deposition, although there was some evidence that they had been augmented by dumped refuse. Diatom evidence suggests that the uppermost of these alternating deposits represented the periodic inundation of a marginal soil that was often relatively dry, whereas those below approximately 20.48m OD represented deposition within an increasingly aquatic environment. Spores of a fungi frequently associated with the dung of herbivores were found in all of the diatom samples, suggesting the possible disposal of stabling waste from the adjacent coaching inn.
Apart from a single possible Mesolithic flint microlith (found at a depth of 4.68m in the window sample placed furthest back from the edge of the Mere) the datable finds recovered from the window samples were all post-medieval. These including a brick fragment, roof tile fragments, pieces of vessel and bottle glass, a single clay tobacco pipe stem and coal fragments. A number of butchered animal bones and oyster shells were also recovered.
The borehole demonstrated that the deposits encountered by the window samples lie above a 10m deep sequence of turfa peat. This peat was not seen in any of the window samples but had been observed in the base of one of those taken in 2012. The presence of these deep peat deposits demonstrates that the edge of The Mere was once some distance to the east of its present position, becoming gradually infilled as a result of both natural processes and human action. It has previously been suggested that Market Hill, Market Place and Mere Street potentially mark the location of the shoreline during the later medieval period.
See report (S3) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 26 April 2021.