NHER 68340 (Monument record) - Post-medieval structural remains

January-February 2016. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of excavation of trench for new electrical cable.
This narrow trench was dug to a depth of c.0.60m and revealed evidence for significant recent disturbance – primarily disturbing demolition layers and other deposits associated with modern construction work.
Two red brick walls and a section of pamment tile floor exposed towards the southern end of the cable trench were almost certainly associated with a narrow row of outbuildings that can be seen extended northwards from the north-east corner of the Chaplain’s House (NHER 26105) on the Ordnance Survey 1:500 Town Plan map of 1885 (S1). These buildings formed the eastern side of a small courtyard. A third red brick wall was potentially the southern wall of the slightly obliquely aligned building that formed the northern side of this courtyard (the site of which is now occupied The Lodgings). A floor surface of rectangular brick-shaped tiles to the north of this wall would have been within the easternmost part of this building. These tiles had raised squares to improve traction and are of a kind commonly seen in stables and similar buildings.
Another red brick wall encountered approximately 9m from the northern end of the trench and a floor of limestone paving slabs a little way to the south were probably related to a small rectangular outbuilding shown at this location on (S1).
There is no reason to think these buildings predate the 19th-century expansion of the Great Hospital complex.
No finds were recovered.
See report (S2) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.564).
P. Watkins (HES), 26 May 2024.