Series: Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service unpublished report series

A programme of archaeological excavation, and monitoring of construction groundworks at land adjacent to Little Priory, Wangford with Henham, following two stages of evaluation. The fieldwork identified further evidence of 12th-14th century medieval settlement contemporary with Wangord Priory, but suggests that the site lies to the south of the Priory precinct and its buildings, and to the west of any medieval settlement that may have lain along the frontage of Church Street. During the medieval period the site has limited evidence of being used for sand or gravel extraction, and for subsequent rubbish disposal in such extraction pits, but was presumably of a general agricultural nature on the outskirts of the medieval settlement. Two large ditches of apparent medieval date presumably represent a broader system of boundaries around the Priory precinct but are at odds with the presumed spatial layout of Priory and village in the medieval period. The proximity of the Priory to the site, and its relatively small size and wealth, was reflected in elements of the finds assemblage. Local wares dominated the medieval pottery and there was a high proportion of fish remains in the faunal assemblage which may reflect religious dietary patterns. Following the Dissolution and the closure of the Priory the site appears to have retained a similar usage throughout the late medieval, post-medieval and modern periods.

Rushford Hall is a substantial country house of rendered brick which is listed at grade II and described in the Schedule of Listed Buildings as an early-18th century former farmhouse considerably enlarged in the early-20th century. It was formerly known as Rushford Lodge, and formed the seat of Thomas Crookenden, Esquire, in the late-18th and early-19th centuries. White's Suffolk Directory of 1891 refers to it as a tithe-free estate of about 1,200 acres. The site lies in Euston parish approximately 75 metres south of the Little Ouse River, which here forms the boundary between Norfolk and Suffolk, but until 1894 formed part of the Norfolk parish of Rushford.

Lane Farm lies in arable countryside, adjoining the western edge of the medieval Wilby Green. The 1838 tithe survey records that the farm was a tenanted holding of c.44 acres, including the two-acre green. The farmhouse is grade II-listed, timber framed and thatched, and of 15th century date. It has a queen-post truss in its sooted open hall. The timber-framed, weatherboarded 'barn' to the rear of the house was last used as animal accommodation, with a hay loft on its upper storey. It contains two mangers and a hay rack of the mid-1800s, but was built in the 1400s as a house. The two eastern bays were altered but formed an open hall with a cross-passage and a parlour door in its western gable. The original timbers are heavily sooted. The two western bays are late 16th century, with a ceiling of finely chamfered joists and evidence of four diamond-mullion windows. This replaced the smaller medieval parlour, reflecting similar alterations to the farmhouse. The hall's ceiling is an early 17th century insertion, supported by a chimney in the medieval cross-passage. The building may have been a bakehouse before conversion into animal accommodation by removing the chimney in the mid-1800s. Medieval records often refer to domestic houses on the same tenement, but surviving examples are exceptionally rare. Given its date and importance the 'barn' is worthy of its own grade II listing. This is an unusually complete farm complex which merits further recording, including the 17th century barn to the north.

Monitoring of footing trenches to the rear of �Goldings�, 67 High Street, Newmarket, identified several features associated with the 17th-18th century palace of Charles II. The foundations of a demolished wall were identified, corresponding to the position of a wall shown on an 18th century map as separating the palace garden from a courtyard. Associated chalk floor surfaces, perhaps originally part of the earlier buildings that were converted into the palace, were also located. An exceptionally large brick-lined shaft, at 4.5m in diameter and 11m deep, was identified and is believed to be the palace ice-house. This may be the only surviving example of one built for Charles II and, if it is 17th century in date, is certainly extremely important and one of the earliest surviving examples in Britain. The evidence suggested that all of these features were either demolished or buried during the 19th century, when it is known that the palace saw changes to its use and structure. This part of the palace was replaced by a yard and 19th century buildings, which were being destroyed by the development. Survey of these 19th century walls identified a carved limestone, tapered block, depicting the face of a �Green Man�. Its shape suggested it was a keystone from an arch, perhaps the one shown linking courtyard to garden, and may have been deliberately rescued during that walls demolition and replaced near to its original position in the new structure.

An evaluation was carried out in advance of development on land within Marston�s Pit, Cavenham Heath Quarry. The evaluation consisted of seventeen trenches with a total length of 356.5m, or 5.65% of the total area of 1.01ha. The trenches showed a high level of preservation of the subsoil, and the presence of a buried soil layer above it, beneath a thick topsoil and modern deposits. One large area of disturbance may be associated with the sites former use as part of Tuddenham airfield. Only a few scattered features were identified, a north-south aligned ditch, two small pits and a possible second ditch. These are thought to be of prehistoric date, despite a lack of dating evidence, but did not indicate any real phase or focus of activity.

As part of the Hoxne Heritage Group's HLF funded project 'The Story of Hoxne' thirty-one test pits were excavated by local residents, schoolchildren and other volunteers, with assistance from the Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service. In many places this was the first real investigation into the archaeological potential of the settlement cores and the test pits have frequently demonstrated that preserved archaeological layers are present, with eleven being issued individual HER codes. The test pits showed a wide variety of results, from clean undisturbed soil profiles in areas evidently outside of the medieval and post-medieval settlement, to thick occupation soils rich with post-medieval to modern material. Several pits contained archaeological soil horizons, at times deeply stratified, appearing to date back as far as the early medieval period. The earliest pottery recovered from two pits dates to the early medieval period, c. 11th-12th century. Medieval ceramics of c.12-14th century date were found in eight test pits while Late Medieval Transitional wares and other 15th-16th century ceramics were collected from twelve. Most of the test pits contained post-medieval and modern material, the quantities generally reflecting the location of each site in relation to the established post-medieval settlement. Post-medieval and twentieth century ceramics, were present in twenty-five of the test pits. Ceramic building material, i.e. brick and tile, was recovered from twenty-eight pits, fragments of clay pipe from twenty-four, pieces of glass from twenty-seven, metalwork including iron nails and other objects from twenty-four, and organic material such as animal bone and oyster shell from twenty-two. The event has shown that there is high potential for future fieldwork or documentary research to add to and enhance our knowledge concerning the life of the village and its development, particularly from the early medieval period.

Archaeological monitoring was carried out during the excavation of footing trenches for a new two storey garage to be built in the rear garden of 1 Bulmer Road, Sudbury on land previously called 'Chapel Field'. Interest in the site is focused on locating Ballingdon Chapel, founded during the 12th century possibly as part of the pilgrims, way to the shrine of St Edmund in Bury, for which no physical remains have yet been found. The earliest evidence from the site was a series of large wide pits that were probably dug to extract sand for building. The pits were well consolidated and produced a small collection of finds suggesting a date from the 12th to 14th centuries. Structural evidence above this included a well lined with tile, and wall footings built of tile and mortar. There was also some solid mortar with flint and limestone blocks. The tiles appear to have been mid-late medieval and it is possible that these are fragmentary remains of buildings added to the Chapel complex in the later medieval period.

Monitoring of footing trenches revealed a series of large undated pits, probably excavated for gravel extraction. A mass of furnace debris or more probably wasters from a C19th brick kiln was also found. There was no indication of the kiln on site and this material was thought to have been imported and used as hardcore to infill a footing trench.

A single trench evaluation carried out at 101-103 Ipswich Street, Stowmarket discovered no artefacts or deposits of archaeological relevance. The site appears to have been totally truncated in the recent past, with rubble hardcore lying above a very thin deposit of modern made ground, itself directly sealing natural soft sands.

A trial trench evaluation was carried out at the above site in advance of a residential development. A single trench was excavated. Evidence of nearby Middle and Late Saxon activity was found in the form of residually derived Ipswich ware and Thetford-type ware pottery. Sparse Early medieval deposits were recorded but their exposure was too limited for detailed interpretation. A substantial dump deposit of redeposited sands and gravels was interpreted as being associated with the AD 1204 town ditch, but it remains unclear whether it was derived from the initial construction of the ditch and rampart or during later maintenance or levelling. Documentary evidence dating from at least the mid 14th century indicates that grants of land were given abutting the defences that stipulated maintenance of the ditch. Two substantial 'garden soil' deposits of Late medieval and 17th century date concur with the documentary evidence which suggests that the site was then under formal gardens (of a property known for some time as Harbottle House) until well into the 19th century. Great Colman Street itself was laid out in 1821 and later features attest to 19th and 20th century occupation along its frontage. It is suggested that the site could have seen relatively little occupation other than being used as urban gardens or agricultural land from possibly as early as the Middle Saxon period until late in the 19th century.