NHER 62632 (Monument record) - Post-medieval structures and deposits

May-August 2009. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed redevelopment area (Trenches 1-4).
All four trenches revealed similar sequences of alluvial deposits interspersed with layers of dumped material. The earliest alluvial deposits consisted of mid-dark grey and organic black laminated silts. Although small amounts of medieval pottery, brick and tile were recovered it appears that this material was largely residual, with most of the dumped deposits demonstrably post-medieval. It should though be noted that the easternmost trench revealed a slightly different sequence, with a possible drainage gully cut into the uppermost alluvial layer and at least two possible mortar surfaces identified within the overlying material, beneath a succession of dumped deposits of the similar nature to those exposed within the other trenches. Unfortunately few finds were recovered from this trench so the date of the earlier deposits is uncertain.
There was clear evidence that the dumping of material and the gradual consolidation of this land was a process that had continued well into the 18th century and beyond. A range of post-medieval finds was recovered from these various deposits, including pottery, window, vessel and bottle glass, pantiles, brick and clay tobacco pipe.
In one of the trenches the remains of a north-to-south aligned timber revetment were exposed. This structure comprised several boxed timber uprights to which overlapping planks had been nailed. It was dated to the 18th-century by material recovered from its construction trench and it was sealed by a further sequence of alluvial deposits and dumped layers. Other post-medieval timbers structures included two more isolated timber posts, one of which had a substantial iron chain attached.
By the later 19th century this block of land had been sufficiently consolidated to allow the construction of a substantial industrial complex comprising a saw mill and an oil mill. Late 19th-century structural remains and demolition layers observed in the uppermost part of the trenches were almost certain associated with these industrial buildings. One of the trenches at the southern edge of the site also exposed surviving elements of the harbour railway that ran past the oil mill and terminated within what is now Whitefriars Gate Car Park (NHER 13593).
See report (S1) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S2).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2016.322).
P. Watkins (HES), 9 April 2018. Amended 23 June 2019.