Monument record IPS 985 - Medieval activity at The Hold, Fore Street

2015: A DBA identified significant potential for the preservation of archaeological deposits of local or regional importance from the medieval and post-medieval periods, including areas and dense early to mid 19th century housing and the late 19th century Social Settlement building. The site has much lower potential for Anglo-Saxon and earlier remains. The preservation of such deposits is likely to vary from poor to good depending on location within the PDA as it has been subject to potentially destructive past development activity, most notable a programme of “slum clearance” in the late 1930s and the construction of the original Ipswich Civic College in the 1950s. (S3)

2017: Evaluation found a single sherd of 11th-12th century pottery which was found in a modern feature (S1).

2018: A programme of archaeological monitoring and excavation was conducted at Fore Street, Ipswich, ahead of the construction of a new heritage centre and Records Office (‘The Hold’). During the course of the monitoring, the southern half of the site was found to contain significant archaeological deposits. A rescue excavation was carried out, simultaneous with the principle contractor’s stripping of the site, under severe time pressure and spatial constraints.

The archaeological remains chiefly consisted of medieval (12th to 15th century) domestic waste pits, apparently situated behind the medieval street frontage on the north side of Fore Street. The medieval pits appeared to be bounded to the north by a series of recut ditches, which ran parallel to Fore Street. A dark earth deposit, perhaps the remains of a horticultural garden, was uncovered at the rear of the medieval plots. These remains represent the easternmost known medieval occupation of Fore Street and St. Clement’s parish. The medieval plots may have been set out as part of a planned development, in which former agricultural fields were given over to burgage, beginning in the 12th – 14th centuries. Although residual material, mostly in the form of Thetford Ware pottery, was encountered, there was no direct evidence for sustained habitation prior to the creation
of the burgage plots. A smaller number of late 15th century to 18th century features, mostly waste pits but also including the remains of cellars and a beam slot, were also uncovered. The finds
assemblage and documentary evidence suggest that these may have belonged to merchants’ houses. The change from a small, relatively poor agricultural medieval suburb towards more affluent inhabitants may have been linked to the creation of a series of quay fronts southwest of the site during the late medieval and Tudor periods. The post-medieval properties on the site may partially fossilise the earlier boundaries of medieval burgage plots. Other 19th century features at the southern end of the site were restricted to fragments of walls and several wells. The northern half of the site contained far fewer features, mainly undated pits and the remains of possible ditches. This may have been because this part of the site had been subject to a severe level of truncation, but probably also reflects that the principle concentration of activity was behind the street frontage at the southern end of the site. The only substantial remains were the pillars of an 18th century raised maltings floor in the northwest corner of the site. (S2)

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2019 (S4).