Greyfriars Road (Island site), Ipswich - IAS5204

Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service, 2015. https://doi.org/10.5284/1034360. How to cite using this DOI

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Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service (2015) Greyfriars Road (Island site), Ipswich - IAS5204 [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] https://doi.org/10.5284/1034360

Data copyright © Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service unless otherwise stated

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Primary contact

Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service
Bury Resource Centre
Hollow Road
Bury St Edmunds
IP32 7AY

Resource identifiers

Digital Object Identifiers

Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) are persistent identifiers which can be used to consistently and accurately reference digital objects and/or content. The DOIs provide a way for the ADS resources to be cited in a similar fashion to traditional scholarly materials. More information on DOIs at the ADS can be found on our help page.

Citing this DOI

The updated Crossref DOI Display guidelines recommend that DOIs should be displayed in the following format:

https://doi.org/10.5284/1034360
Sample Citation for this DOI

Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service (2015) Greyfriars Road (Island site), Ipswich - IAS5204 [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] https://doi.org/10.5284/1034360

Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service logo

Introduction

Greyfriars Road (Island site), Ipswich - IAS5204

Circumstances of excavation

Planning permission for the redevelopment of this site was first granted in 1982. The site lay between the old Greyfriars Road (now a cul-de-sac) to the south and the new Greyfriars Road (realigned in 1982) to the north. Permission was granted to the Suffolk Archaeological Unit to excavate the site prior to its proposed development in 1989.

Site constraints

This site and the Greyfriars Road (Novotel) site (IAS5203) were both part of the same land parcel, prior to the construction of the new stretch of Greyfriars Road through it, and the whole was scheduled as an Ancient Monument (Suffolk County No 193). Scheduled Monument Consent for the excavation was granted by the Secretary of State for the Environment.

A major sewer ran north-south through the middle of the site which was to be retained and avoided by the excavation. Consequently, the excavation was conducted in two halves, with the half east of the sewer excavated first. The geological subsoil comprised water-laid sands and gravels, which sloped gently from north-east to south-west (2.4-2.1m OD).

Site summary

The earliest features recorded date to the Early Middle Saxon period (EMS: c.600-700); two pits (0033, 0092) certainly belonged to this period which is characterised by the use of handmade pottery, often associated with Merovingian imported wares, dating to the seventh century. Three other pits (0288, 0289, 0294) probably belong to this period as they are cut by MS features but have no finds associated (0294 had one unidentified sherd). A total of 138 handmade sherds were recovered in total from the site. The rest of the Saxon period was also represented by further pits and post-holes with a sunken-featured structure (0043) being attributed to the Middle Late Saxon period (MLS: 900-1000)

One linear feature (0291), one foundation trench with postholes (0241) and twenty-nine pits belonged to the Early Medieval period (EMED: 1000-1200). A complex of post and stake-holes, either belonging to, or later than, this period, were located in the north-west corner of the excavation area. Most of these contained no pottery, but a number of stake holes (0162, 0168, 0232, 0236) and post holes (0251, 0257) cut EMED pits. Only one large feature belonged to the Late Medieval period (LMED: c.1200-1450): pit 0063. This pit, with sloping edges, was 12m east-west, by 8m north-south, and up to 1m deep in the centre. The lowest layer (0151) was described as a ‘dark grey sticky clay loam tinged with green sand’ and other layers included ‘pale grey/luminous green sand’ implying that the feature was a pit/pond for the disposal of industrial waste. The site lies close to the River Gipping channel and the Stoke Mills where such processes might be expected, three further pits were also recorded and dated c.1450-1600.

Only one feature, a cellar (0016, 0017), was attributed to the Post-Medieval period (PMED: c.1600-1900) and was not planned.

Further information can be found in the Site Summary which can be accessed by selecting the 'Reports' tab on the 'Downloads' page.


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