Monument record BSE 376 - Weymed Centre, Bury St Edmunds, (Medieval-Post Medieval) (SCCAS) EVAL (BRIT) EVAL (BRIT) EXC

2011: Evaluation revealed evidence that the site was subject to a clearance to create a garden for the Marquis of Bristol and the medieval properties that once occupied the site were demolished and buried beneath early 17th century topsoil. As a consequence the archaeology is extraordinarily well preserved. Pottery recovered suggests the site has been in continuous occupation since at least the 10th century. Activity increased during the high medieval period reflected by 12th-14th century finds. Medieval features from across the sites included pits, a ditch and a possible cellared building. Late medieval occupation was evidenced by buildings remains and the potential exists for building footprints to remain, along with ancillary structures. Remains of a cobbled surface, possibly a lost lane, were also uncovered. The late medieval buildings were demolished in a single event. There is a 16th century cut-off date for the finds. An almost complete circular base of an engaged column was recovered which may have been used as part of an internal structure from around 15th century onwards. The remains of two civil defence buildings of brick wall stubs and concrete raft, were seen, one may possibly be an air-raid shelter which overlay the 17th century topsoil. A clay-lined pit, posthole and brick culvert were also seen (S1).

Saxon and medieval deposits were uncovered during the 2011 evaluation of the S part of the proposed development site, and evaluation of this N part identified a main phase of medieval activity (11th – 14th century), correlating with the most intense phase of activity identified previously. A number of undated post-holes are suggested to likely represent ancillary structure/s related to the buildings identified to the S.

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2021 (S2)

An evaluation was carried out of the former Shire Hall car park and the Manor House car park alongside the Record Office, prior to the submission of redevelopment plans. The evaluation of the Shire Hall car park showed that the landscape was an engineered one and the product of at least two campaigns to raise the ground level. The first of these occurred in the 15th century with the dumping of gravels over marshland and river silts and was part of a wider scheme to create the fishponds, a mill-leat within the Abbey complex and enhanced grazing meadows. The dumping of gravel and the creation of a narrower floodplain required the precinct wall to be extended and this can be seen in the fabric of the wall. A trench excavated at the base of the original phase of the 12th-century wall discovered the remains of a hitherto unknown buttress with indications of possible render on the wall face. The second ground raising occurred after the Reformation during the 18th century when topsoil was brought in to create the garden for St Margaret’s House; which later became incorporated into the County Council offices. The Weymed Centre site lies within the historic urban core and within the area of the original Saxon settlement; this is reflected in the density and the long sequence of archaeology found there. The site was subject to an ‘urban clearance’ at the start of the 17th century to create a garden for the Marquis of Bristol and the medieval properties that once occupied the site were demolished and buried beneath a substantial depth of imported topsoil. As a consequence the archaeological levels are extraordinarily well preserved. Thetford and St Neots-ware pottery found on the site suggests that it has been in continuous occupation since at least the 10th century. The intensity of activity increased during the high medieval period and the largest assemblage of finds is dated to 12th–14th centuries. Medieval features were recorded across the entire site and included rubbish pits, a ditch and most notably a possible cellared building. Late medieval occupation was evidenced by the remains of buildings which fronted onto Raingate Street and the potential exists for complete building footprints to remain, along with evidence of post-built ancillary structures. Alongside and to the N of the building were two phases of a well-made cobbled surface, possibly a hitherto lost back lane running E–W dividing the block of properties and a sub-division of the town grid. The late medieval buildings were demolished in an apparent single event and there is a 16th century cut–off date for the finds. Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2011 (S3).