NHER 64333 (Monument record) - Medieval quarry pits and post-medieval cellar

June 2017. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development area adjacent to 25-27 Surrey Street.
Neither of the two trenches excavated revealed deep stratigraphy, with natural deposits encountered at a maximum depth of approximately 0.5m. In the southern trench topsoil and subsoil deposits survived but in the northern trench natural deposits were encountered beneath the modern overburden, indicating at least a degree of recent truncation.
The earliest remains encountered were three large features interpreted as medieval quarry pits. Pottery sherds and brick fragments recovered from these features suggest that they were probably filled in during, or shortly after the late medieval period. Other finds included a possible Roman tile fragment, two possible iron objects, oyster shells and a small assemblage of animal bone. Another large pit partially exposed in the northern trench produced no dating evidence but was potentially of a similar age and origin. Other undated features included a short, presumably truncated linear feature in the southern trench that appeared to be cut by one of the medieval pits.
There was no other evidence for activity on the site prior to its development during the post-medieval period. The principal structure associated with this period of activity was a cellar in the northernmost trench that had flint and brick walls and a tiled floor. The bricks in the main walls were probably a type in use between the mid-16th century and the 18th-century but could easily have been reused. A probable entrance into an adjoining cellar had been blocked up with bricks of later, 18th- or 19th-century date. The original age of this cellar and its associated dwelling are therefore not entirely clear. The somewhat schematic early maps of the city do however suggest that this section of the Surrey Street frontage had potentially been developed prior to the end of the 17th century and buildings are clearly shown at this location on Hochstetter’s map of 1789, shortly after Nos 29-35 are believed to have been built (NHER 26209). The houses that had occupied the site itself during the late post-medieval period (Nos 21-23 Surrey Street) were demolished in the 1930s but the date of these structures is unknown and it is possible that they had replaced earlier dwellings. Surviving photographs show them to have been much less grand than the four-storey town houses that lay to the east.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 24 August 2020.