NHER 69707 (Monument record) - Post-medieval to modern and undated remains

January-February 2020. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
Four trenches excavated in the northern half of the site all revealed post-medieval structural remains, most, if not all of which were probably associated with the Borough Lunatic Asylum that had previously stood at this location (NHER 48966). Evidence for earlier activity was largely limited to a small number of medieval to post-medieval objects found residual within later features and deposits. These earlier finds included single medieval and late medieval/early post-medieval pottery sherds and a medieval/post-medieval roof tile fragment. The bulk of the pottery recovered is of 18th-century or later date – i.e. associated with the period when this location was the site of first a workhouse infirmary (NHER 629) and then the Borough Lunatic Asylum. The other datable finds recovered were also predominantly of later post-medieval to modern date, including clay tobacco pipe fragments, window glass, pieces of bottle and vessel glass, iron nails and various unidentified iron and lead objects. Animal bones and oyster shells were also collected, along with a small amount of iron slag.
In the northern two trenches the natural geological deposits were overlain by deep made-ground deposits that produced pottery of probable late 18th- to 19th-century date – suggesting these represented material lain down immediately prior to the construction of the Borough Lunatic Asylum in 1828. An undated east-to-west aligned linear feature in the north-east corner of the site was the only feature encountered that appeared likely to predate this phase of activity. A sample taken from its fill produced an indeterminate carbonised cereal grain and small quantities of charcoal, coal and clinker.
Although this site lies to the east of the location of the main 'H'-shaped asylum building it is clear from a comparison with the Ordnance Survey 1:500 map of 1882 (S1) that all of the brick walls and other structures encountered were associated with the hospital's ancillary buildings and boundary walls. These included walls associated with a detached, elongated block to the east of the main building, which were surrounded by a considerable quantity of brick demolition rubble. Due to differences in the brickwork it is suggested this building may have incorporated an earlier structure associated with the 18th-century infirmary. A north-to-south aligned wall in a trench to the west was the eastern boundary wall of one of the two courtyards associated with the main 'H'-shaped building. Remnants of a brick and flint cobble courtyard surface were found to survive, which incorporated a large piece of reused architectural stonework (a sandstone ?corbel). Various drains lay beneath this courtyard surface. A compact beaten-earth-type deposit to the east of the wall was the uppermost of a sequence of laminated layers that had probably been associated with the yard present in this area - including a very compact gravel deposit. The earliest deposits in this sequence appeared to predate the boundary wall.
The southern trenches exposed two north-to-south aligned walls that had bounded a smaller courtyard or plot to the south of a small detached cross-shaped building to the east of the main structure (possibly the hospital's mortuary chapel). The eastern wall separated the courtyard from an enclosed plot of land thought to have potentially been a cemetery. Both of these brick walls had been built on flint and brick concrete foundations. Removal of wall collapse and demolition deposits in the western trench exposed a probable occupation layer containing pottery and other finds of 19th- to 20th-century date and frequent patches of oyster and mussel shell debris. This deposit overlay a much thinner made-ground deposit than those seen to the north. In both trenches the natural geological deposits were overlain by a probable subsoil layer which produced slightly earlier pottery of probable late 18th to 19th-century date. No human remains or possible graves were encountered.
See report (S2) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 21 January 2026.

February 2022. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
This second phase of work saw the excavation of four trenches in the southern half of the site, which was the former location of 51 Starling Road – a building originally used as a marketing and support centre by the British United Shoe Machinery Company (NHER 65547).
As during the earlier work the remains uncovered were primarily associated with late post-medieval to modern phases of activity, with evidence for earlier activity again limited to a number of residual or unstratified objects. This small assemblage comprises a medieval pottery sherd; a piece of medieval window glass and various metal objects, including two late Roman coins, a possible Roman buckle plate, a Roman or medieval lead pot mend, a medieval annular brooch and a medieval/post-medieval suspension ring.
One of these trenches encountered a brick wall shown on the Ordnance Survey 1:500 map (S1), which had formed the southern boundary of the enclosed plot of land immediately south of the cross-shaped possible chapel building. As expected, a brick taken from this wall was assessed to be of 19th-century date. There was again no evidence for graves at either this location or within what had been another enclosed plot of land immediately to the east. Here the natural geological deposits were overlain by what appeared to be relatively undisturbed subsoil and buried topsoil deposits. These were sealed beneath a sequence of more recent soil deposits containing post-medieval material, the uppermost of which lay above a layer of crushed red brick fragments and lime mortar potentially deposited during the construction of the 19th-century asylum. An undated sub-circular pit was encountered at the base of this trench. Similarly-deep sequences of soils were encountered in the two southernmost trenches. In the eastern trench the natural geological deposits were truncated by three adjacent north-north-west to south-south-east aligned linear features, one of which produced pottery of 16th- to 18th-century date and another sherds of 18th- to 19th-century date. Fragments of post-medieval roof tile were also recovered in and around these features, which may have represented a recut boundary or planting trenches associated with a garden or orchard. Samples taken from their fills produced small numbers of carbonised cereal grains (including free-threshing wheat and hulled barley) and seeds from what were probably associated cornfield weeds. Fragments of coal, clinker and fish bone were also noted.
Other post-medieval finds recovered during this work (mostly from unstratified contexts) included clay-tobacco pipe stem fragments, a slate pencil of likely 19th-century date, several coins and a small assemblage of other metal objects comprising buckles, buttons, a knife end cap/pommel, furniture mount, copper alloy vessel fragment, silver stud fastener and lead musket ball.
See report (S3) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 21 January 2026.