NHER 68150 (Monument record) - Potentially medieval human remains, post-medieval layers and 19th-century wall foundations

July 2018. Desk-based Assessment.
Assessment of potential archaeological impact of proposed demolition of Elaine Herbert House and redevelopment of site.
Elaine Herbert house occupies the site of two buildings that had been part of the Great Hospital's 19th-century expansion. The first – known as Red Ward - was a substantial two-storey, 'T'-shaped block that had fronted onto Bishopgate and formed the southern side of the eastern courtyard. This had been constructed between 1820 and 1821 and a small part of this building survives to the west of Elaine Herbert House. The second hospital building demolished prior to the construction of Elaine Herbert House was a detached laundry block at the southern end of the East Wards (NHER 68151), which was also constructed during the 1820s.
The available 19th-century maps show that the eastern portion of Elaine Herbert House also coincides with the site of a row of presumably 19th-century buildings that had stood immediately to the east of the Great Hospital complex. The Ordnance Survey 1:500 Town Plan map of 1885 (S1) shows a public house known as The Marquis of Granby and an adjacent house at the southern end of this block, with a short row of four terraced houses extending to the north. These various 19th-century buildings were all demolished by 1972.
The exact nature of medieval activity at this location is uncertain, although it is possible that the cemetery of St Helen’s church extended into this area. The condition of any medieval remains present is uncertain and will depend on the level of truncation caused by the construction of Elaine Herbert House and the various 19th-century buildings that previously occupied the site.
See report (S2) for further details.
See also Heritage Statement (S3) for further information of the historical development of this part of the Great Hospital complex and the nature of the proposed development.
P. Watkins (HES), 8 March 2024.

January 2023. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site (following demolition of Elaine Herbert House).
The earliest deposit encountered was a dark grey silty clay revealed at the base of the westernmost of the two trenches excavated. More than 100 pieces of disarticulated human bone were recovered from this deposit, which represented the remains of a minimum of three individuals. This material was almost certainly the result of past disturbance of burials within the graveyard of St Helen’s Church – suggesting it had potentially once extended into this area. The deposit containing the human remains was overlain by a light yellow-grey silty clay layer, which was the lowest deposit exposed across most of the two trenches. No finds were recovered from this deposit and its nature is uncertain. It was overlain by a sequence of two dark grey silty clay layers that both contained late post-medieval pottery and other finds of a similar date, including fragments of bottle glass and pieces of clay tobacco pipe. In one trench these deposits were separated by a thin layer of black peaty clay containing charcoal fragments. The uppermost layer contained fragments of charcoal and ceramic building material and was probable a made-ground deposit. It was truncated by the footings of several brick walls, including two that almost certainly represented the western and southern walls of the early 19th-century laundry block known to have stood to the south of the East Wards. The foundations for these walls also incorporated some flints and dressed limestone blocks. Two brick structures extending northwards from the south wall possibly represented the remains of internal partitions, although the presence of charcoal and possible clinker this area suggests they were most likely associated with a boiler or fireplace. This is consistent with Boardman’s 1877 plan of the Great Hospital (S4), which shows the southern half of this block to have been the drying room (with a single partition separating this from a wash house to the north). An 'L'-shaped fragment of brick wall identified to the east of the laundry walls almost certainly represented the remnants of an outbuilding associated with one of the 19th-century buildings known to have been present immediately to the east.
Medieval finds were limited to a single pottery sherd.
See report (S5) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 8 March 2024.