Monument record IPS 178 - Old Foundry Road, Ipswich, (IAS 1501).

1974: Trench confirmed presence of the Medieval town ditch (1204), between Old Foundry Road and St Margaret's Plain. The bank had been entirely removed, large post hole may represent a timber revetment. (IAS 1501) (S1, S2).

Stratigraphic sequence (by period)
Although the excavation cut across the inner edge of the medieval town ditch, the only features recorded related to its later development and no medieval deposits were encountered.

Late Medieval Transitional: c.1450-1600 (LMT)
Layers which filled the inner edge of the town ditch werefound in the northern end of the trench, associated with 16th century pottery.

There were three roughly circular 0.9m diameter pits It is likely that all three are postholes for very large posts and represent a palisade on the inner edge of the ditch.

Post Medieval: c.1600-1900 (PMED)
Phase 1(17th century)
On the basis of the pottery associated the slighting of the LMT palisade occurred in the 17th century

Phase 2 (18th/19th century)
A series of brick walls were the foundations of houses and a small square outbuilding built along the Old Foundry Road street frontage in the late 18th or 19th century. A robber trench presumably indicates a robbed-out wall of the same date and a levelling of the site is probable in the 20th century.

The post medieval pottery from all Ipswich sites (1974-1990) has not been studied. The dating in this summary is based on spot dating alone (S4).

See also (S5), clay pipe report.