Site Event/Activity record ESF21028 - Evaluation, Land East of Hawes Street, Ipswich

An archaeological evaluation was carried out on a parcel of land to the east of Hawes Street, Ipswich, in advance of a proposed housing development. The site was formerly part of an ironworks involved in large-scale engineering. Three trenches were excavated across the proposed site but no archaeological features were identified and no artefacts recovered. At the northern and southern ends of the development area a natural subsoil of pale yellow sand was encountered at a depth of c. 1m. In the central area a dark grey alluvial silt was present at a depth of c. 1.3m to 1.5m suggesting a marshy lagoon or inlet from the main river channel. Concrete footings and slabs, some of which were in-situ, were noted in all three trenches. In the southern two trenches the overburden comprised made ground at the base of which was a hard dense layer of slag and clinker or a thick deposit of black sand, ash and clinker. These layers were undoubtedly waste from the former iron works that had been spread over what was probably the original land surface that was otherwise relatively undisturbed. In the northern area large deposits of broken concrete with reinforcing were recorded and the underlying natural deposits had been clearly truncated, probably during the demolition and clearing of the former ironworks. (Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service for CgMs Consulting).