Bristol Avon Archaeol 17

Investigations revealed various periods of activity. Suggests that a Romano-British estate centre, in all probability a variety of villa, existed in close proximity to the site. Masonry fragments and the recovery of box-flue tile fragments attest to the status of the site. The agricultural nature of the site is evinced by the discovery of a Romano-British field system formed of ditches and gullies. Pottery dating from the eleventh- to early-twelfth-century and a glazed fourteenth-century roof tile were also discovered, possibly indicating a manorial structure in the area. The evidence for a post-medieval moat or fishponds is also considered. Includes a specialist report on:

Evaluates the evidence for the route taken by Wade Street over the River Frome, Bristol.

Reports the results of the excavations and presents a history of the area. The remains of a Romano-British settlement occupied from between the late-second to the fifth centuries were found. It was associated with a considerable quantity of iron working debris. A boundary ditch, wall and other features dating to the late-twelfth and early-thirteenth centuries pre-dated the establishment of a Franciscan friary in the middle of the thirteenth century. After the Dissolution of the friary in 1538, lodges or garden houses associated with formal gardens were established. A Moravian chapel was erected in 1756 while a row of four terraced houses were built shortly after 1759. In the middle of the nineteenth century a Welsh Baptist Chapel, warehouses and industrial buildings were constructed over the rest of the area of the excavation. These were demolished in the 1970s. Includes separately authored reports on:

which records fifty prehistoric worked flints and nine pieces of chert

Reports that the earlier of the two groups is of late-seventeenth-century brown stoneware produced at Richard Champney's pottery, while the second group is of nineteenth-century redware made at the Pipe Lane Pottery. Also notes that the excavation uncovered evidence of a late seventeenth-century building in the angle between a medieval tower and a Civil War gun battery.

Reports the remains of an early-twentieth-century clay tobacco pipe kiln operated by Corcoran and Company and the Bristol Clay Tobacco Pipe Manufacturers Ltd on Tower Street from around 1903 to 1911. The excavation uncovered the base of the kiln, and produced thirty-three distinct clay pipe types, which are depicted and catalogued.