Site Event/Activity record ESF20692 - Desk Based Assessment, West Suffolk College, Bury St Edmunds

Desk-based archaeological assessment has been undertaken to inform a management plan for development of the area surrounding West Suffolk College, the site of the former Gibraltar Barracks. This consisted of a search of the Suffolk County Council Sites and Monuments Record, a documentary search of the readily available cartographic and documentary sources and a report on the military history of the Barracks. This has revealed no positive evidence of archaeological deposits, although topographic, cartographic and evidence from nearby sites suggest the possibility of surviving pre-medieval archaeological deposits, in the western and central parts of the site. Documentary evidence suggests the land-use as open fields since the 15th century until the construction of the Barracks in 1878 for the Suffolk Regiment and consisted of a main Keep, a hospital, officers mess, residential and domestic blocks and other military buildings, gardens, parade ground and drill ground. This went out of use in 1959 and all buildings except the Keep and the perimeter walls were demolished. A substantial archive survives relating to the Barracks, consisting of plans, photographs, personal experiences and other data. Although only the walls and Keep now survive, which are listed buildings, the overall plan of the Barracks can still be identified in the modern layout, and the remains of this is of local and regional importance. The Barracks garden survives in an outline form with many mature trees. An egg-shaped bed that can still be seen may relate back to a pre-19th century field name and could be indicative of archaeological deposits in this area (S1).