Ipswich UAD child record record IPS 1070 - Building 0064

Only the west end of this sunken featured building could be excavated. It lay on the east edge of the excavation adjacent to St. Peter's Street which had been widened on its west side in the early years of the 20th century. Consequently, only the width (3.8m) and depth (1.1m) of the sunken feature could be recorded. There was no evidence of an external entrance to the sunken feature in the area excavated.
Removal of the top loamy layers of fill revealed an extensive quantity of burnt timber lying below, comprising carbonised vertical posts, along the west side of the sunken feature and the remnants of up to three layers of horizontal planking behind them. Within the sunken feature, carbonised planks and posts lay strewn around within a layer of ash and charcoal, reflecting the position where they had collapsed into the open pit. The timbers dipped markedly from south to north. No effort had been made to clear the cellar out after the fire and the hole had been filled with rubbish directly on top of the burnt timbers. No evidence of any flooring material survived between the burnt layers and the natural at the base of the cellar.
Although some fired clay was retrieved from amongst the burnt timbers (269g), the majority was found in the filling above (2.5kg), and some layers of daub can be seen in the higher levels of the section. This would tend to indicate that little daub was actually used in the cellar with most deriving from a floor level above.
Along the west end, the tops of the carbonised posts (0150, 0172, 0182, 0183) were found in situ above the line of post holes (0199-0204), although these had rotted out below the base of the cellar, where they had not been touched by the fire. A shallow slot connected the post holes in the north half of the west wall and this turned eastward, following the northern edge of the sunken feature. Behind the carbonised posts there were carbonised horizontal planks (0127, 0187, 0188, 0189, 0191). Only one post (0185), above post hole 0205 and planking (0104, 0193), was recorded of the north wall. This short length of wall was at a 97 degree angle with the west wall. Post holes 0239 and 0240, along the southern edge of the cellar, were much better aligned, although an extra post (0241) was revealed outside this line.
A flotation column was taken from the building fill (Murphy et al 2003), (S1).