Building record MNL 590 - Parkers Mill, Mill Street, Mildenhall

The mill is situated on the north side of the River Lark, on a leat running roughly parallel to the river. Domesday Book refers to a mill in Mildenhall, possibly in this location The site is located on the edge of, and extends into, the Lark floodplain, straddling the divide between loam over chalk (to the north) and fen edge peat deposits to the south. The trial trench evaluation found features ranging from Saxo-Norman (c.AD 850-1150) to late-medieval/ early post-medieval (1400-1600) date. These were concentrated mainly in the northern corner of the site and comprised ditches, gullies, pits and postholes. There were generally few finds, suggesting that the area was on the periphery of the medieval settlement. However, one later-medieval (c.1400) rubbish/cess pit yielded a large animal bone assemblage including articulated elements from at least six cattle. The centre of the site was found to be heavily-truncated from the buildings which formerly occupied the site. The southern edge of the site, adjacent to the mill stream, was devoid of archaeology, although only a small portion was investigated due to modern disturbance and an electricity substation in this area. A palaeo-environmental assessment revealed that peat deposits adjacent to the mill channel were relatively shallow and no waterlogged deposits were encountered (S1).
Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2007 (S3)