Trans Worcestershire Archaeol Soc 17

A sequence of foundations were recorded commencing in the Anglo-Saxon period, through the rebuilding of the Abbey c. 1100, and on to two phases of rebuilding the choir during the thirteenth century. Also investigated were the Victorian restorations of the Abbey, including an elaborate tiled floor. Over 1000 finds including 202 separately numbered small finds were recovered. The majority of finds were human bone, the majority of small finds were iron objects. Smaller-scale excavations were also undertaken in the spring of 1997, to the north of the Abbey.

MIA deposits were discovered, dating to the third--second centuries BC. The site was domestic in character, although the presence of iron slag suggested ironworking in the vicinity. The last phase of IA activity indicated a change to agricultural use. Although Roman finds were present, there was no evidence of Roman activity on the site. A medieval farmstead gave way to a post-medieval farm at the edge of the town, and during the nineteenth century the area became suburban as the town expanded to the north. The Iron Age settlement extended beyond the development area and was well preserved beneath medieval and later soils.

Excavation of a medieval site was carried out in 1991 in advance of M5 motorway widening. The site was located in the vicinity of a medieval moat, and the excavation revealed a number of features relating to occupation dating to the thirteenth--fourteenth century. This phase of activity was superseded by ridge-and-furrow cultivation, probably dating to the later-thirteenth or fourteenth century. This was abandoned in turn by the fifteenth century and it is possible that a park was then established here which continued in use until the early-nineteenth century.

Several phases of construction were revealed from a substantial Late Saxon church to fourteenth-century extensions to the chancel. A previously (archaeologically) unrecorded chapel adjoining the chancel of the church was also revealed.

A history of the specialised group of Severn Trows known as `Wich Barges'.

Describes a period that, prompted by the revival of interest in Gothic architecture, witnessed church building on a scale not seen since the Middle Ages. From 1818 to 1904, within the western half of the Rural Deanery of Kidderminster, the number of minsters with cure of souls rose from five to eleven.

Finds of RB and possibly earlier pottery within a confined hilltop space and in close conjunction with Roman bronzes and coins spanning a period from first to fourth century AD indicate that this site was probably occupied from the LIA to RB periods.