Ipswich UAD child record record IPS 1073 - Building 0600

This sunken featured building lay at least 15m back from the medieval St. Peter's Street frontage at the north end of the site. It cut pit 0462 which was EMED or MLS (as it was dated by one EMED sherd which could be derived from 0600) and was cut by pit 0434 which had a LS assemblage. Although 0600 only has 1.9% EMED pottery, the actual number of sherds (56) is highly unlikely to be contamination. The south-east corner had been cut away by a post medieval cellar (0004). Orientated north-south, the building was roughly parallel to the road line, with a stepped entrance (0454) into the sunken feature at the north end of the east side. The building was 5m long, 3.7m wide, on the basis of the post hole evidence, and 1.7m deep below the surface of natural. The building walls were marked by postholes set in a continuous foundation trench only on the north side and the northern half of the west side. The post holes in the west half of the north wall and north half of the west wall could not be traced over an earlier pit (0395). The 5.5m length of surviving south wall comprised four postholes (0601-0604). A foundation trench and four postholes (0421, 0502-0504) were recorded in the north wall and one posthole (0605) and a short length of foundation trench (0606) was recorded in the west wall. Only the entrance section of the east wall was excavated. Three post holes (0505, 0622, 0623) were inset from the main wall line and appear to block the entrance. The floor of the building was unusual having a large depression (0571), which reached its deepest towards the north end. At a later phase, this depression and entrance was filled with yellow sand, forming a higher floor level and the entrance steps wererebuilt. Post holes (0494-0496 and 0497) at the east end of the entrance indicate that it was probably covered.The deep erosion of the floor and entrance steps would most likely have been caused by animals being kept in the cellar. A marked distinction between the filling behind the posts and the filling of the cellar could be traced around the building except in the area of the steps, indicating that the wall of posts and planks had not collapsed before being filled on abandonment (S1).