Title: |
Retaining Wall, Saffron Walden Castle: Archaeological Excavation and Monitoring |
Series: |
Essex County Council Field Archaeology Unit unpublished report series
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Downloads: |
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Licence Type: |
ADS Terms of Use and Access
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DOI |
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Publication Type: |
Report (in Series)
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Abstract: |
Archaeological excavation and monitoring was carried out prior to and during repair work to the retaining wall between the north side of Saffron Walden Castle and the rear of 30 Castle Street. A 1m-wide trench, stepped for safety, was excavated through the deposits to the south of the wall. Natural chalk was exposed in the base of the trench at a depth of c. 2m below the ground surface. This was sealed by buried medieval topsoil upon which were a series of compacted sand, flint and chalk deposits interpreted as the foundations of the mid-14th century inner bailey curtain wall. The foundations were found to extend along the length of the retaining wall during monitoring. No evidence of a rampart was found although this is likely to date to the initial (mid 12th century) phase of construction and may have been located closer to the inner bailey ditch which has been observed beneath Castle Street to the north. After demolition and almost complete robbing in the late medieval or early post-medieval period the area was landscaped in the 19th century most probably when the near-by museum was constructed in the 1830s. The retaining wall itself and a blocked subterranean structure built within it all appear to date to the later 19th or 20th century. |
Author: |
T Ennis
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Publisher: |
Essex County Council Field Archaeology Unit
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Other Person/Org: |
Historic England (OASIS Reviewer)
Essex County Council Historic Environment Records (OASIS Reviewer)
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Year of Publication: |
2010
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Locations: |
Site: |
Retaining Wall, Saffron Walden Castle, Saffron Walden |
Parish: |
SAFFRON WALDEN |
District: |
Uttlesford |
County: |
Essex |
Country: |
England |
Grid Reference: 553808, 238713 (Easting, Northing)
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Subjects / Periods: |
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Identifiers: |
OASIS Id: |
essexcou1-69300 |
OBIB: |
1966 |
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Note: |
A4, blue spine
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Source: |
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Relations: |
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Created Date: |
24 Nov 2016 |