Site Event/Activity record ESF20518 - Excavation - Angel Hotel, Bury St Edmunds

In August 2004 a programme of archaeological excavation was commissioned by Gough Hotels and carried out ahead of extension work at the Angel Hotel. The excavation covered a total of 75sqm located to the rear of the property. Although a fairly large area was excavated, several restrictions were imposed on the archaeological work, affecting the results of the excavation. The main restriction was the depth to be excavated as construction work would not disturb the full depth of the archaeological deposits. Preservation in situ was considered the best option for the lower deposits with some small-scal excavation to assess and sample these deposits. This resulted in the total excavation of most of the post medieval deposits as these were the most threatened with machine removal of the more modern upper deposits. This led to problems in the interpretation of the lower medieval archaeological deposits. Another restriction on the site was created by a series of east to west running pipes along the south edge of the excavation which removed one tenth of the area to be excavated (S1).