Monument record SUY 058 - Medieval defensive town ditch and post medieval pit on land between Weavers Lane and Burkitts Lane

2002: Two evaluation trenches across defensive town ditch, c.13m wide & 3.4m deep. Possible EMed pottery from upper layers (S1)(R1).
2003: Monitoring following evaluation revealed and plotted part of the Saxon town defences of Sudbury, which appears to have been finally backfilled in the C12/C13. Small amount of residual(?) IA (probably) or ESax pottery in primary ditch fill (S2).
A documentary survey was also undertaken by A M Breen (S2).

2004: Monitoring of the same site during excavation of foundations for terraced houses revealed no significant archaeological deposits although a brick lined well, c.8.2m deep was identified (S3).

2002: Documentary research identified that all the buildings in Burkitt's Lane were all built in the nineteenth century with the area free of any substantial buildings as shown in the map of 1714. The record for weaver's lane were not as detailed, with it possible the houses visible along the 1714 map were cottages of individual weavers employed by the cloth trade. These cottages were cleared by the nineteenth century to accommodate a mixture of domestic and commercial buildings, none of which were very substantial. By the early 1960's the site had been cleared under instructions from the health inspector of the borough. The street patten in this area may represent the Anglo-Saxon and Medieval ditched of the town, with the suggestion that Burkitt's Lane is a later expansion dating from he twelfth century. Further expansion beyond the east gate and along Market Hill did not occur until the Fourteenth century, The parish boundary is also south of the development area (S4).

2003:Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2003 (S5).