Fore Street, Ipswich - IAS5902

Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service, 2015. https://doi.org/10.5284/1034366. How to cite using this DOI

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Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service (2015) Fore Street, Ipswich - IAS5902 [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] https://doi.org/10.5284/1034366

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/10.5284/1034366
Sample Citation for this DOI

Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service (2015) Fore Street, Ipswich - IAS5902 [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] https://doi.org/10.5284/1034366

Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service logo

Introduction

Fore Street, Ipswich - IAS5902

Circumstances of excavation

The site was formerly the Tolly Cobbold bottling yard, cleared in 1982, prior to the construction of a new road (Star Lane), as part of a new gyratory road system.

Site constraints

The excavation was restricted to the line of the new carriageway and by the funding available.

Site summary

The earliest features recorded were from c.600-700, though two residual sherds of Prehistoric pottery were recovered from ditch 0134. Three ditches, (0134, 0141, 0142) were attributed to the Early Anglo-Saxon period (EMS: 600-700). The fills of these ditches was a leached sandy loam silt, usually an indication of pre-urban features in Ipswich. Spelt grain was identified from these ditches and the lack of domestic refuse is highly suggestive that they were arable field boundaries.

Following the filling of the EMS ditches, the north-south ditch was cut on much the same alignment as ditch 0134. The middle section of the ditch contained three Ipswich ware sherds whereas the north section was aceramic and the southern butt end is recorded as containing two Thetford and two Early medieval sherds, which are clearly contamination. A single pit was also dated to this period and ten sherds of Ipswich ware were recovered from it along with nine later sherds that were clearly present through contamination.

Only one pit was identified with certainty as pertaining to the Early Late Saxon period (ELS: c.850-c.900) but there were 12 features, mostly postholes, with Thetford ware only, in small quantities, which are likely to be ELS or Middle Late Saxon. At least two lines of postholes can be postulated, running north-south back from Fore Street, which may represent fence lines. A sunken featured building, one pit and one posthole certainly belong to the Middle Late Saxon period (MLS: c.900-c.1000). Only 2.8m of the eastern end of the sunken featured building fell within the excavated area.

A total of seven pits, a well, a surface laid building, a hearth and seven post holes or small pits were attributed to the Early Medieval period (EMED: c.1000-1200).

A pottery industry was established on the site during the Late Medieval period (LMED: c.1200-1470), producing Ipswich Glazed ware. One complete kiln (0013), and parts of two others, lying outside the excavated area, were recorded along with 12 pits containing kiln waste. Over 2100 sherds of Ipswich Glazed ware were recovered from the site. Samples of the kiln floor were sampled for archaeo-magnetic dating by the Ancient Monuments Laboratory, producing a date range of AD.1270 -1350 .

One building, one cess pit and one pit belonged to the Late Medieval Transitional period (LMT: c.1450-1600).

The Post Medieval features consisted of the cellar of a building and the footings of a possibly associated outhouse. They appear to have cut across the footing trench of an earlier structure and slag-filled soak-away. Two pipe trenches ran off the site in the direction of the street. The LMT cess pit was abandoned and filled in this period.

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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