Archaeol North 4

Details remains on a promontory abutting the North Sea. Features include a small burnt sub-circular stone structure and an area of grass-covered blown sand. The partly fenced off medieval chapel is buried in sand and located on the crest of the promontory. It was laid bare in 1853, and the 1854 report and plan showing chancel and nave with a western annexe has formed the basis of all subsequent work until now. In 1965 a description was produced based on this plan, and later authors dismissed non-masonry remains as humps in the ground. In fact they correspond to the first chapel plan, and the north doorway into nave is also visible with a `bench' jutting out below the north wall. Both ends of the nave are missing, showing that substantial destruction occurred between 1854 and 1857, but the remaining earthworks indicate the structure's limits. Other remains indicate that the chapel was part of a structural complex. A rectangular earthwork and three lengths of wall related to this, and forming an enclosure against the north side of the chapel, can still be seen. Charcoal and crushed shell are also in evidence, along with a cobbled surface and archaeologically stratified deposits. The whole is seen as indicating that the site of the present chapel remains -- thought to be circa twelfth-century -- may overlie an earlier seventh-century chapel, with subsequent implications for early Christian archaeology in this area. The site is under threat from natural erosion as well as human impact and needs a management plan.

Shaft mounds or bell-pits related to the mining of iron and thought to be relatively modern were found to be earlier.

Reports work undertaken by the unit particularly at the castle and on the medieval defences. A watching brief at the Barber Surgeons' hall failed to recover some statues whose presence had been anticipated from documentary references.