Monument record IPS 634 - Kennings/Sixt Hire Centre, Duke Street, Ipswich.

Pre 2006, Borehole and Geotechnical Test Pit Survey by MLM Environment, (S1)
2006: Desk Based Assessment, (recorded as IPS 506, IAS 9011), (S1).
2010: Desk Based Assessment, (S2).

2010: A small evaluation to the east of Duke Street, Ipswich, found evidence of significant landscaping/truncation as well as surviving remnants of a likely late 19th early 20th Century terraced house. On a higher terrace, where no evidence for widespread truncation was recorded, an undated but probably pre post-medieval ditch and a WW2 air-raid shelter were noted (S2).

2011: Excavation in advance of development revealed, medieval ditches, late and post-medieval pits, part of a 19th Century street, Siloam Place, Ipswich, comprising a terrace of houses and part of a Sunday School, and six, identical WW2 air-raid shelters (S4).

An excavation in advance of the construction of a hotel on a site fronting Duke Street entailed the removal of a former car-park surface and its sub-base to reveal the remains of a series of brick built structures and associated surfaces. From map regression these have been identified as parts of a Sunday School and a terrace of housing which fronted onto a former street named Siloam Place that dated from the mid 19th century The remains consisted of the lower portions of walls built of soft red brick, concrete yard surfaces, cess pits and parts of at least two cellars with brick and flagstone floors. Following recording the site was lowered to the level of the natural subsoil revealing a number of post-medieval cess pits and three late medieval pits, all probably associated with occupation on the N end of Duke Street. Two groups of medieval ditches were also recorded. As these yielded very few artefacts, it suggests an area of open fields with no actual occupation within the excavation area until the later medieval period. Single sherds of Anglo-Saxon and Roman pottery were recovered as residual finds.
A series of subterranean concrete air-raid shelters dating from World War II were also exposed during the excavation. Two complete shelters and a substantial portion of a third were present within the excavation area and a further three shelters were encountered during the construction of a perimeter retaining wall, that were located partially under the neighbouring site to the NE. All six of the air-raid shelters were of a similar, probably standard, design and were probably built by the local authority for use by the general public. Following completion of the archaeological work the air-raid shelters within the excavation area were entirely removed and the site lowered to the formation level. Substantial portions of the three shelters encountered during construction of the retaining wall were left in situ. Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2011 (S5).