Series: Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service unpublished report series

A programme of archaeological excavation, and monitoring of construction groundworks at land adjacent to Little Priory, Wangford with Henham, following two stages of evaluation. The fieldwork identified further evidence of 12th-14th century medieval settlement contemporary with Wangord Priory, but suggests that the site lies to the south of the Priory precinct and its buildings, and to the west of any medieval settlement that may have lain along the frontage of Church Street. During the medieval period the site has limited evidence of being used for sand or gravel extraction, and for subsequent rubbish disposal in such extraction pits, but was presumably of a general agricultural nature on the outskirts of the medieval settlement. Two large ditches of apparent medieval date presumably represent a broader system of boundaries around the Priory precinct but are at odds with the presumed spatial layout of Priory and village in the medieval period. The proximity of the Priory to the site, and its relatively small size and wealth, was reflected in elements of the finds assemblage. Local wares dominated the medieval pottery and there was a high proportion of fish remains in the faunal assemblage which may reflect religious dietary patterns. Following the Dissolution and the closure of the Priory the site appears to have retained a similar usage throughout the late medieval, post-medieval and modern periods.

Rushford Hall is a substantial country house of rendered brick which is listed at grade II and described in the Schedule of Listed Buildings as an early-18th century former farmhouse considerably enlarged in the early-20th century. It was formerly known as Rushford Lodge, and formed the seat of Thomas Crookenden, Esquire, in the late-18th and early-19th centuries. White's Suffolk Directory of 1891 refers to it as a tithe-free estate of about 1,200 acres. The site lies in Euston parish approximately 75 metres south of the Little Ouse River, which here forms the boundary between Norfolk and Suffolk, but until 1894 formed part of the Norfolk parish of Rushford.

Lane Farm lies in arable countryside, adjoining the western edge of the medieval Wilby Green. The 1838 tithe survey records that the farm was a tenanted holding of c.44 acres, including the two-acre green. The farmhouse is grade II-listed, timber framed and thatched, and of 15th century date. It has a queen-post truss in its sooted open hall. The timber-framed, weatherboarded 'barn' to the rear of the house was last used as animal accommodation, with a hay loft on its upper storey. It contains two mangers and a hay rack of the mid-1800s, but was built in the 1400s as a house. The two eastern bays were altered but formed an open hall with a cross-passage and a parlour door in its western gable. The original timbers are heavily sooted. The two western bays are late 16th century, with a ceiling of finely chamfered joists and evidence of four diamond-mullion windows. This replaced the smaller medieval parlour, reflecting similar alterations to the farmhouse. The hall's ceiling is an early 17th century insertion, supported by a chimney in the medieval cross-passage. The building may have been a bakehouse before conversion into animal accommodation by removing the chimney in the mid-1800s. Medieval records often refer to domestic houses on the same tenement, but surviving examples are exceptionally rare. Given its date and importance the 'barn' is worthy of its own grade II listing. This is an unusually complete farm complex which merits further recording, including the 17th century barn to the north.

Monitoring of footing trenches to the rear of �Goldings�, 67 High Street, Newmarket, identified several features associated with the 17th-18th century palace of Charles II. The foundations of a demolished wall were identified, corresponding to the position of a wall shown on an 18th century map as separating the palace garden from a courtyard. Associated chalk floor surfaces, perhaps originally part of the earlier buildings that were converted into the palace, were also located. An exceptionally large brick-lined shaft, at 4.5m in diameter and 11m deep, was identified and is believed to be the palace ice-house. This may be the only surviving example of one built for Charles II and, if it is 17th century in date, is certainly extremely important and one of the earliest surviving examples in Britain. The evidence suggested that all of these features were either demolished or buried during the 19th century, when it is known that the palace saw changes to its use and structure. This part of the palace was replaced by a yard and 19th century buildings, which were being destroyed by the development. Survey of these 19th century walls identified a carved limestone, tapered block, depicting the face of a �Green Man�. Its shape suggested it was a keystone from an arch, perhaps the one shown linking courtyard to garden, and may have been deliberately rescued during that walls demolition and replaced near to its original position in the new structure.

An evaluation was carried out in advance of development on land within Marston�s Pit, Cavenham Heath Quarry. The evaluation consisted of seventeen trenches with a total length of 356.5m, or 5.65% of the total area of 1.01ha. The trenches showed a high level of preservation of the subsoil, and the presence of a buried soil layer above it, beneath a thick topsoil and modern deposits. One large area of disturbance may be associated with the sites former use as part of Tuddenham airfield. Only a few scattered features were identified, a north-south aligned ditch, two small pits and a possible second ditch. These are thought to be of prehistoric date, despite a lack of dating evidence, but did not indicate any real phase or focus of activity.

As part of the Hoxne Heritage Group's HLF funded project 'The Story of Hoxne' thirty-one test pits were excavated by local residents, schoolchildren and other volunteers, with assistance from the Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service. In many places this was the first real investigation into the archaeological potential of the settlement cores and the test pits have frequently demonstrated that preserved archaeological layers are present, with eleven being issued individual HER codes. The test pits showed a wide variety of results, from clean undisturbed soil profiles in areas evidently outside of the medieval and post-medieval settlement, to thick occupation soils rich with post-medieval to modern material. Several pits contained archaeological soil horizons, at times deeply stratified, appearing to date back as far as the early medieval period. The earliest pottery recovered from two pits dates to the early medieval period, c. 11th-12th century. Medieval ceramics of c.12-14th century date were found in eight test pits while Late Medieval Transitional wares and other 15th-16th century ceramics were collected from twelve. Most of the test pits contained post-medieval and modern material, the quantities generally reflecting the location of each site in relation to the established post-medieval settlement. Post-medieval and twentieth century ceramics, were present in twenty-five of the test pits. Ceramic building material, i.e. brick and tile, was recovered from twenty-eight pits, fragments of clay pipe from twenty-four, pieces of glass from twenty-seven, metalwork including iron nails and other objects from twenty-four, and organic material such as animal bone and oyster shell from twenty-two. The event has shown that there is high potential for future fieldwork or documentary research to add to and enhance our knowledge concerning the life of the village and its development, particularly from the early medieval period.

Four evaluation trenches with a combined length of c. 75m were excavated at 1 Abbot Road, Bury St Edmunds. The evaluation was carried out on the 14th May 2014 and was conducted as a condition of planning application SE/12/1471/FUL. The work followed a written scheme of investigation written by SCCAS/FT in response to an archaeological Brief issued by Dr. Abby Antrobus (SCCAS/CT). The evaluation failed to identify any finds or features. The profile of the trenches consisted either of topsoil over a red/brown silty sand with patches of intruding chalk, or topsoil directly onto chalk. Linear marks in the surface of the chalk were identified as frost wedges caused by freeze-thaw action during periglacial conditions.

GSE 088, 1 Pinbush Road, Gisleham: An evaluation by trial trenching was carried out on the site of a proposed workshop/office building. Two trenches (total area 100m2) were excavated, representing 4.5% of the total area of the development site. The natural stratum was yellowish brown sand with pebbles and some localised patches of clay/silt. A prehistoric buried soil horizon directly overlay the natural sand. It contained small amounts of abraded later prehistoric pottery (including flint-tempered Iron Age fabrics) and later prehistoric struck flints. The surface of the buried soil horizon was at depths of 0.56m-0.90m below current ground level. In Trench 1 the buried soil horizon was cut by a ditch of probable prehistoric date and an undated but presumed prehistoric posthole. These features were sealed by a subsoil layer that contained Roman and Middle Saxon pottery, a post-medieval topsoil/ploughsoil and a modern turf layer.

An archaeological evaluation was carried out on land at 10 Factory Street, Lowestoft (TM 5499 9381); LWT 167 A trial trench evaluation was carried out at the above site from 13th -14th July 2009 in advance of a proposal to redevelop the site. The redevelopment involves the construction of a single residential property. A number of features of archaeological interest were recorded during the work. These were two undated pits, a late medieval buried soil and similarly dated post-holes, and an early post-medieval flint and lime mortar foundation representing a building that remained in use into the 19th century. Evidence for the adjacent Lowestoft Porcelain factory was recovered in the form of two fragments of kiln bars.

A trial trench evaluation was carried out at the above site in advance of a residential development. A single trench was excavated. Evidence of nearby Middle and Late Saxon activity was found in the form of residually derived Ipswich ware and Thetford-type ware pottery. Sparse Early medieval deposits were recorded but their exposure was too limited for detailed interpretation. A substantial dump deposit of redeposited sands and gravels was interpreted as being associated with the AD 1204 town ditch, but it remains unclear whether it was derived from the initial construction of the ditch and rampart or during later maintenance or levelling. Documentary evidence dating from at least the mid 14th century indicates that grants of land were given abutting the defences that stipulated maintenance of the ditch. Two substantial 'garden soil' deposits of Late medieval and 17th century date concur with the documentary evidence which suggests that the site was then under formal gardens (of a property known for some time as Harbottle House) until well into the 19th century. Great Colman Street itself was laid out in 1821 and later features attest to 19th and 20th century occupation along its frontage. It is suggested that the site could have seen relatively little occupation other than being used as urban gardens or agricultural land from possibly as early as the Middle Saxon period until late in the 19th century.