Digital Photographs and Data from Archaeological investigations at The Market Hall Site, St John Street, Bromsgrove, 2016
Worcestershire Archaeology, 2023. https://doi.org/10.5284/1102109. How to cite using this DOI
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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- ADS Collection: 5036
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1102109
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
This collection comprises the digital photographs, spreadsheets, and GIS data from archaeological investigations at the Market Hall Site, St Johns Street, Bromsgrove (NGR SO95707055), between the 23-24 May and 20-22 June 2016 . This work was commissioned by Hinton Properties in response to a brief (the Brief) prepared by Planning Advisory Section of Worcestershire County. Two stages of archaeological investigation were undertaken, an initial evaluation in May, followed by an excavation in June.
Following the initial site evaluation comprising three small trenches, further archaeological investigation was deemed necessary by the Planning Archaeologist and a programme of works was arranged. However, in the event, there was no archaeological condition placed on the permission granted and only a small-scale extension to the area of evaluation was undertaken, entirely at the discretion of the Client. The two stages of investigation are, therefore, reported on together as a combined project in the summary report which is linked from the donloads pages.
Although only a small area of the site was investigated it was possible to identify multiple phases of activity, dating from the 12th century onwards, and to suggest that similar remains continue beyond the excavated area.
Comparison with historic mapping of the site before mid-20th century clearance shows that the latest archaeological remains revealed were walls and deposits relating to small buildings, probably built in the 18th century, on land behind the frontage of properties 11 and 12 at the junction of Hanover Street and St John Street. Associated archaeological finds suggested that these were all related to a domestic use. The wall foundations demonstrated evidence of re-use of building materials from one or more substantial structures, and some of this building material was of high quality. A small surviving stretch of well-built sandstone wall suggests that it is possible that an earlier, larger structure had once been present on the site itself, parts of which remained in situ, and that the stone reused in later structures elsewhere across the site may have been sourced directly from here.
The garden soil truncated and overlain by the stone/brick structures had sealed a pre-17th century phase of activity, considered to be broadly dated as 12th- to 16th-century but with a possible focus in the 12th to 14th century. Features of this date were small scale and ephemeral but suggested the presence of timber structures and, in the case of a rectangular pit, were possibly associated with storage or processing, thereby indicating some specialised function. A wide ditch and shallow gully on a parallel alignment also suggest that there may have been a need to drain the land, probably heading down towards the Spadesbourne Brook, and that the area may, therefore, have been laid out in plots in this period.
The discovery of a range of well-dated medieval archaeological features is significant in the light of the previously suggested archaeological potential of this part of the town, and lends much support to the idea that this area was the focus of early settlement in Bromsgrove. Beyond some medieval pottery from earlier fieldwork there has been little to demonstrate this potential, so the present project has made an important contribution to our understanding by revealing the first medieval urban archaeology in Bromsgrove.
