Monument record BSE 344 - Post-medieval lime kiln and features, Chapel Cottage, Hollow Road, Bury St Edmunds

2010: Evaluation trenches in the grounds of Chapel Cottage found no evidence of that could be related to the former medieval hospital of St Nicholas's immediately to the south. There is evidence from three of the four trenches for lime burning. This was clearest in trench 2 where a large pit, or exposed chalk face contained bricks from a partially robbed structure with evidence for successive phases of burning that dates from the late 17th - early 18th century (S1).

2014: An archaeological monitoring and a 'strip and map' was carried out during site clearance and groundworks at the site of Chapal Cottage, Hollow Road, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. The site strip and excavation of terracing a pit, possibly associated with chalk extraction, a trench and a section face showing the tail end of a probable lime kiln first exposed in 2010 (Tester 2010) all of post-medieval date. A slight linear gully may be evidence of a property boundary of similar date. There was no evidence for the medieval hospital of St Nicholas immediately to the south of the site (S2).

2009:A study was undertaken of the ‘Aviary Wall’, which is the remnant of a range of monastic service buildings constructed against the inside of the Abbey’s precinct wall. The work included a drawn and photographic survey of each elevation of the wall and the hand-excavation of two tests holes.
The surveyed section identified three distinct buildings that included the bake and brewhouses within the east end of the range, although this is difficult to appreciate as all the internal walls have been removed. The buildings were well served by a variety of windows and openings which distinguish these buildings from the stables and cowsheds which make up the rest of the range. The brew and bakehouses date to the first half of the 13th century and were replacements for the early 12th century buildings that were damaged first by fire and later during the town riots. The excavation demonstrated that the internal floor level was considerably lower than the external suggesting that the brewhouse had an undercroft which was infilled with a combination of rubble from its demolition during the Dissolution and soil imported during the 18th and 20th centuries. Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2009 (S4).