Monument record IPS 595 - St Clements Hospital, Foxhall Road, Ipswich.

2008: Desk Based Assessment

2011: Evaluation and Geophysical Survey. An area of c.4.5ha was evaluated by trial trenching to the south of St Clements Hospital, Foxhall Road, Ipswich. A central area could not be trenched as it is still in use as a playing field. The site is located on a plateau top on the north bank of the River Orwell. The site is fairly flat, probably a result of landscaping and levelling associated with the playing field and managed grassed areas and lawns. The underlying drift geology is primarily sand with some sand with gravel. Truncation was observed over much of the site with sharp contact between the topsoil and natural geological sand deposits. Several large extraction pits were encountered along the north and north-east areas of the site. These are likely to be of Victorian date and might be associated with the construction of the hospital in the late 19th century. Prehistoric features were encountered near the western edge of the site. A pit containing Early to Middle Bronze Age pottery and a ditch revealing fragments of Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age pottery were both recorded in this area. Nearby pits containing charcoal-rich fills could also be of prehistoric date. Undated ditches near the south-west corner of the site were on a variety of different alignments and are therefore likely to belong to different periods. An area towards the north-east corner of the site had escaped severe truncation. Here a fuller soil profile was seen with hillwash and subsoil deposits between topsoil and natural geological sands. Two undated ditches were recorded in this area (S1).

2016: Excavation recorded a scatter of seven small to mid-sized pits and a trench for a modern water pipe. Six of the pits displayed baked sides and/or contained numerous and smallto large pieces of carbonised oak wood. All but one also included infrequent small fragments of fire-heated flint. These pits are tentatively dated as prehistoric. The seventh pit, the largest and lacking signs of in situ burning, wa clearly modern and contained pieces of cement plaster, cermaic building material, pottery and animal bone (S2)

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2011 (S4).