Find Spot record BLB 153 - Middle and Later Saxon occupation evidence and pottery - Blythburgh

Thirteen 1m2 test pits were excavated in Blythburgh by 47 Year 8 and 9 students from Benjamin Britten School, Bungay High School, Hobart High School, Sir John Lemen High School and Ormiston Denes Academy. The test pitting was part of the Independent Learning Archaeology Field School (ILAFS). The earliest evidence found for activity in the village was during the Middle Anglo Saxon period (and around the time of the formation of the church) which was identified from a single test pit in the south of the village. Two test pits yielded later Anglo-Saxon pottery from opposite the priory land in the north.

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History for 2017 (S1).

Test Pit 1: The Green, Priory Road, Blythburgh. TM 45166 75394 (Guestimate)
Test Pit 2: ‘The Sanctuary’ (north), opposite The Priory, Priory Road, Blythburgh. TM 45205 75320 (Guestimate)
Test Pit 3: ‘The Triangle’, off The Street, Blythburgh. TM 45244 75289
Test Pit 4: White Hart Cottage, Station Road, Blythburgh. TM 45342 75354
Test Pit 5: The Birdhouse, Angel Lane, Blythburgh. TM 45332 75279
Test Pit 6: 1 Angel Lane, Blythburgh. TM 45342 75236.
Test Pit 7: Hawthorn Farmhouse, Dunwich Road, Blythburgh. TM 45345 75117
Test Pit 8: Swallows Corner, Chapel Road, Blythburgh. TM 45287 78115)
Test Pit 9: Wolsey House, Chapel Road, Blythburgh. TM 45316 75166
Test Pit 10: Field south of Chapel Road, Blythburgh. TM 45174 75193
Test Pit 11: 2 Church Cottage, Church Road, Blythburgh. TM 45076 75261
Test Pit 12: Church Cottage, Church Lane, Blythburgh. TM 45036 75289).
Test Pit 13: ‘The Sanctuary’ (south), opposite The Priory, Priory Road, Blythburgh. TM 45211 75307 (Guestimate)

2018 test pits mainly concentrated on the W side of the A12. The earliest pottery evidence dated to the Middle Anglo-Saxon period, approximately contemporary with the formation of the first church in Blythburgh. Evidence of later Anglo-Saxon pottery was seen in three of the test pits, showing that this part of the village was the focus of settlement at that time. The village expanded during the high medieval period across the S of the Anglo-Saxon church, which became an Augustinian Priory during the 12th century; a total of 90 pottery sherds of this date were excavated from eight of the test pits. It may have been the presence of the priory which enabled the settlement here to continue to flourish during the later medieval period despite the various socio-economic factors that were affecting the entire population during the 14th century. Nine test pits yielded pottery of 14th–15th-century date. Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2018. (S2)

2019: The test pitting in Blythburgh revealed a range of activity dating from later prehistory through to the modern day. The nature of the test pits allows excavations in otherwise inaccessible places for the normal methods of commercial archaeological investigation, and it showed that some earlier phases of occupation in Blythburgh still exist under the present settlement, despite modern development. A relatively large number of lithics were found from Blythburgh, hinting at the presence of previously unknown activity under the current village and possibly contemporary with the later prehistoric monuments situated along the valley of the River Blyth. No Iron Age or Romano-British pottery were excavated from any of the test pits, but further evidence for the Middle Anglo-Saxon original settlement here was found from at least two distinct areas, the largest being close to the crossing of the river, in the area of the White Hart pub today. This was seen to continue through the Late Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods, including in the latter, a large expansion of the settlement was found in relation to the construction of the priory in the 12th century. Blythburgh was affected by the various socio-economic factors of the 14th century, including the Black Death, after which it slowly recovered during the post medieval, but likely remained small, as seen today and never recovered its prosperity and wealth of during the medieval period (S3).