NHER 65550 (Monument record) - Post-medieval remains

November 2019. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
The two trenches excavated revealed remains that appeared to be primarily of late post-medieval date. This result is unsurprising as the Ordnance Survey 1:500 Town Plan map of 1885 (S1) shows the site to straddle what was then the boundary between the grounds of 9 Bracondale and Southgate House to the north (then Richmond House). A presumably substantial wall ran along this boundary, with a range of outbuildings and a row of glasshouses shown abutting its southern face. This boundary ran along what was once the southern side of a lane depicted on late 18th- and early 19th-century maps of Norwich, running between Ber Street and the city wall close to King Street. The cartographic evidence shows that at some point between 1849 and 1873 the lane was bisected and this section of its route incorporated into the grounds of Richmond House. Its original line can still be clearly seen from the position of the surviving elements to the west and east.
An east-to-west aligned possible ditch was probably the earliest feature recorded. This produced two sherds of late medieval pottery and a post-medieval pantile, along with a small quantity of animal bone. As it coincided with the line of the former lane it is possible it was related to this route way. There was however no trace of the lane itself, with only soil deposits and a probable make-up layer recorded in the area where it would have been present.
The majority of the features recorded were associated with the construction and demolition of the structures that had occupied this location during the late post-medieval period. These included part of a white brick floor exposed in the western trench that had probable been related to the row of outbuildings shown to the south of the boundary wall. It is suggested that brick walls exposed in the trench to the east were associated with the adjacent glasshouse, although a close examination of the 1885 map suggests this structure may have actually lain to the north of the boundary wall, within the grounds of Richmond House.
The boundary wall itself had been entirely removed, with no footings surviving.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2020.1).
See report (S2) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 14 April 2022. Amended 8 December 2022.