Site Event/Activity record ESF24802 - Deposit, St. Stephen's Church, Ipswich, (IAS 3203).

The conversion of this redundant church to a tourist information centre involved minor improvements. This included the removal of the pews which sat on boarded wooden floors laid on joists which rested on bare earth below. The levels of this earth were to be reduced below the level of the surrounding tiled walkways in order to lay a new solid floor at the same level. The Suffolk Archaeological Unit were granted permission by the owners, Ipswich Borough Council, to excavate the ground levels which were to be removed, providing an opportunity to examine one of town’s churches recorded in the Domesday Book. Following removal of the pews in 1982, two small trial trenches were excavated either side of the central walkway in the nave. In the following year these were enlarged to include the whole area which had been occupied by wooden flooring in the nave (trenches 0028 and 0029), south aisle (trench 0050) and chancel (trenches 0065 and 0070).