Monument record BAW 163 - Possible medieval occupation, Land east of 13 East Lane

March 2010: An archaeological monitoring was carried out during the excavation of foundation trenches for a housing development. This was the second phase of archaeological fieldwork to take place on this site. In the north-eastern part of the site natural crag deposits were truncated (presumably by marine erosion) and overlaid by extensive sequences of dumped and water-laid deposits that are assumed (based on previous fieldwork) to have been of early medieval date. These deposits were removed partially by two undated pits (S1).

December 2010: An evaluation (field-walking / metal detecting followed by trial trenching) was carried out at the above site in advance of a housing development. Ten trenches (total area 506m2) were excavated, representing approximately 5% of the area of the proposed development. Prior to the evaluation the site was in agricultural use. The drift geology of the site is crag. In the southern half of the site this is overlaid by discontinuous deposits of subsoil interpreted as the remains of a former ploughsoil. Extensive dumped deposits of medieval date, probably associated with wholesale land reclamation or the backfilling of a former watercourse, extend across most of the northern half of the site. Three cut features in the southern half of the site - a small pit and an unspecified feature of medieval date, and a large, undated pit - might indicate medieval occupation along the East Lane frontage. In light of these results a recommendation is made that an archaeological monitoring of ground work associated with the proposed development should be carried out (S2).

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2009 (S3).