Monument record HWT 071 - Post medieval pits and brick drain/culvert at 19-20 Throroughfare, Halesworth

2019: An archaeological trial trench evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in July
2019 at 19-20 Thoroughfare, Halesworth, Suffolk. Three trenches were excavated, ahead of a proposed housing development.

The eastern part of the site, where Trenches 2 and 3 were excavated, was found to be heavily
truncated, with several large, deep pits uncovered, perhaps the remains of post-medieval sand
and gravel quarrying, which had been backfilled at some point in the 19th century. This
backfilling must have occurred prior to 1884, when the gardens which presently occupy the
site are fist depicted on OS mapping. One of these pits cut a brick drain or culvert, constructed
from late 17th to early 18th century bricks (although there is some evidence that these may
have been recycled from an earlier structure). The western part of the site, where Trench 1
was excavated, immediately behind the existing street frontage, showed no such truncation.
Two shallow post-medieval pits were uncovered in Trench 1. (S1)