Archaeologia Aeliana Series 5

Excavation and architectural recording were carried out before and during restoration. After the Dissolution three claustral ranges were leased in 1552 to nine craft companies as first-floor meeting halls with accommodation below. These were adapted in the late 16th or early 17th century, remodelled in the 18th but allowed to decay in the 19th/20th centuries. Four main assemblages include small finds, pottery, environmental evidence, and a collection of pipe-makers' stamps for the region (1630s onward). F B/Ed

Plans of 95 med and postmed buildings have been recovered, mainly in two rows with crofts behind, bordering a green. The village originated in the 12th century or before, stagnated after c 1320 but was rebuilt possibly as late as the early 15th. Modification of longhouses into houses with byres took place under a new landowner in c 1675 and the village was abandoned c 1720. The range of early medieval pottery forms was limited. A comparative analysis of building plans given here will be set in the wider vernacular context in Part 2. F B