Monument record IPS 440 - 70-74 St Helens Street, Ipswich, (IAS 8812).

2002: Archaeological monitoring of 70 to 74 St Helen's Street Ipswich revealed a 'dark earth' spread underlying the existing buildings of probable 16th to 18th century date. Seventeenth century maps indicated a watercourse along this road and the 'dark earth' deposit might have been a remnant of a bank associated with the watercourse.

A pair of east to west ditches directly behind these proporties are likely to be field boundaries belonging to before St Helen's became a medieval suburb of Ipswich in the 12th century.
Near the southern boundary of the site a tile-built kiln or oven was revealed. This feature showed eveidence of extreme localised burning but its function is unclear. A post-medieval date is likely for the kiln. At the nearby site of St Edmund House on Rope Walk, post-medieval pottery kilns were found. It is possible that the St Helen's Street kiln is part of this industrial complex (S1).

See also (S2, S3).

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2003 (S4).