Excavations at St Martin-at-Palace Plain, Norwich, 1981 (2025)

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The Development of an Urban Landscape: Recent Research in Medieval Norwich

Dr Brian Ayers

Brit Archaeol Assoc Transactions, 2015

This paper presents a review of recent progress in the study of medieval Norwich, a city of European importance, examining its urban landscape, buildings, institutions, and commerce and industry. Evidence is drawn from survey, excavation, building recording and analysis, artefact studies and palaeo-environmental data. Much of the information is derived from work of the last forty years, starting with the groundbreaking initiatives of the Norwich Survey in the 1970s, continuing through large-scale excavations conducted by the Norfolk Archaeological Unit-notably at the Magistrates' Courts, Castle Mall and the Franciscan friary, all now published-and from research under-taken by other scholars at the cathedral, on the elite houses of the city, and in the surviving parish churches (thirty of these still stand out of a medieval total of over sixty). The paper concludes with an assessment of potential for future research. Norwich, probably the fourth largest town in England in 1066, grew rapidly after the Norman Conquest to become a regional capital, housing the only royal castle for Norfolk and Suffolk until the mid-12th century, the seat of the diocese of East Anglia and, by the late 13th century, an impressive range of crafts, trades and mercantile activity. 1 By the 1340s, the city occupied a walled area greater than that of London and Southwark combined. Its population had perhaps reached 30,000 in the decades preceding the Black Death. 2 Attempts to provide an appraisal of the development of the city, drawn from a range of sources, have a fine lineage. In 1963, for instance, a groundbreaking exhibition was held at Norwich Castle Museum, entitled 'Norwich: The Growth of a City'. 3 This incorporated archaeological material into an assessment of the documentary and built inheritance of Norwich, and proved to be the precursor of the considerable archaeological and allied research which has deepened understanding of the medieval development of the city in the years since. One successor has been a recent review which examines the origins of the settlement and its growth prior to 1066. 4 This work built on an earlier appraisal published by the late Alan Carter in 1978, wherein he attempted to summarize new discoveries within a context of developing hypotheses and method-ologies concerning urban growth. 5 The current paper, exploring understanding of Norwich between 1066 and the Reformation, also takes Carter's lead as a starting point. Carter was the director of the (now defunct) Norwich Survey, an interdisciplinary organization established in the early 1970s to examine the documents, historic buildings and buried archaeology of the city. Confronted with an extraordinary task and armed with only modest resources, he and his colleagues necessarily had to be selective. In consequence, their research agenda concentrated mainly (but not exclusively) on three key areas: excavation sought 1

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EAA Report 17 11th century waterfront 1979 and Thetford type pottery production Norwich

Dr Brian Ayers

of marine mollusc samples from four East Anglian sites Scattergrams showing dimensions of 100 fruitstones from context 84 Map to show tenements and purprestures in 1286 Site location plan and the reconstructed Saxon defences Standard drawing conventions on plans and sections 27 Bedford Street (424N). Location plan, site plan and profile 21 Bedford Street (16 3N). Location plan 2-4 Bedford Street (53N). Location plan 5 Lobster Lane (336N). Location plan, site plan and sections Cooking-pot rim types 27 Bedford Street (424N). Kiln group 21 Bedford Street (163N). Kiln group 2-4 Bedford Street (53N). Kiln products 2-4 Bedford Street (53N). Kiln-associated material 5 Lobster Lane (336N). Kiln group Details of rouletting and waster groups Thetford-type ware production in Norwich-interpretation plan Suggested reconstruction of kiln, 27 Bedford Street (424N)

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STONE BUILDING IN ROMANESQUE EAST ANGLIA

Stephen Heywood

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EAA Report 68 pre Conquest waterfront Norwich

Dr Brian Ayers

The Norfolk Archaeological Unit is most grateful to the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission and to the Manpower Services Commission for providing the funding for the excavation. HBMC must also be thanked for supporting the post-excavation work and grant-aiding the publication of this report. Access to the site was granted by David Bush (Property Management Services) and David Bush has most kindly donated the finds to the Norfolk Museums Service. Mike Hobbs of David Bush (Property Management Services) was most helpful during the organisation and running of the excavation and he and David Bush must be thanked for fencing the site. Officers of Norwich City Council Planning Department and members of the Planning Committee kindly ensured that archaeological examination of the site was a condition of planning consent. The Unit is also grateful to Scaffolding (Great Britain) Ltd for all their help and advice. The writers are extremely grateful to Piers Millington-Wallace and Graham Joyce who supervised the MSC team and to the members ofthat team who worked hard and well in often trying conditions. The four experienced excavators employed by the Norfolk Archaeological Unit, Andrew Hanasz, Philip Hopkins, James Heathcote and Margaret Mathews, all worked like Trojans and, most importantly, created a very happy atmosphere. All four at some stage drew plans or sections as did Jayne Bown, helped by Graham Joyce, Piers Millington-Wallace, Joan Lightning and Jenny Sawyer of the MSC team. Brian Ayers took the photographs. Val Williams most efficiently recorded and processed the finds on site and ensured that most were washed, marked and bagged prior to the end of the excavation. That this was completed is due entirely to the most generous volunteer work of Mrs Grace Come. The excavation was also greatly helped by other volunteer helpers, amongst whom Daniel Voisey and Lawrence Paterson ought to be mentioned here. Roy Rushbrooke metal-detected the spoil every day after he had finished work, and at weekends too, and it is due to his perseverance that many of the smaller objects, such as the sceat and the brooches, were discovered. The finds were conserved by Karen viii Wardley at Norwich Castle Museum. The survey of the industrial buildings undertaken by NIAS was greatly assisted by the work of M. Fewster, C. Fisher, G. Fisher, B. Funnell, DJ. Manning and E. Tebby. Mary Manning is grateful to them and to David Bush (Property Management Services) for access to the site, to Messrs. Daynes, Chittock and Back for documentary evidence on ownership and to Mr G. Plunkett, the Bridewell Museum and the Colman and Rye Library. The maps, site plans, sections and elevations in this report were drawn by Jayne Bown, the finds by Jean Stokes and the pottery by Hoste Spalding. The frontispiece was kindly provided by the National Monuments Record. The writers must thank their colleagues for many helpful comments and suggestions:

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David Etheridge

2010

During this monitoring exercise features and deposits of archaeological significance were identified prompting an intensive phase of excavation and recording over an area of c. 160m2. A stone-lined rectangular pit, possibly a former ice-house, measuring 2.8m long, by 2.27m wide and over 1.6m deep, was exposed in plan. The fills of the pit yielded an important assemblage of pottery and clay tobacco pipe, dated to the early 18th century. Associated with this structure was a smaller rectangular structure c. 1.4m square by 1.4m deep formed of dry-stone masonry that exhibited the remains of what appeared to be a corbelled roof of pennant sandstone slabs. In the floor of this structure a circular pit was revealed, interpreted as a well shaft, the upper fill of which yielded a complete glass onion bottle, made no later than AD 1710, together with a complete slipware chamber pot, also dated to the 18th century. These two masonry features have been backfilled and will now be preserved in-situ. To the north of these features an area of medieval activity was defined by a series of intercutting and re-cut boundary ditches aligned both north-south and east-west. Within this area the surviving medieval soil cut features, though heavily truncated, appeared to represent the remains of two or more timber structures. This activity appears to have been domestic in nature, though no hearths were identified. At least one of the structures had several parallel east-west aligned bays, possibly indicating stalls for animals. Medieval pottery from the excavation indicated there had been activity on or near the site since the mid 12th century AD, though the structural remains are more likely to date from the late 15th or early 16th centuries.

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Norwich before Norwich: an exploration of the pre-urban landscape of the medieval city

Dr Brian Ayers

This paper is an attempt to explore the pre-urban geography of the medieval core of Norwich, examining the impact of the landscape upon the form of the city. It discusses human exploitation and manipulation of pre-urban features such as the River Wensum and its valley, tributaries to the river, hill slopes and natural deposits.

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A SAXON AND EARLY MEDIEVAL SETTLEMENT AT

Gilbert Burleigh

Hertfordshire's Past, 1989

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The growth of an urban landscape: recent research in early medieval Norwich

Dr Brian Ayers

Early Medieval Europe, 2011

The growth of an urban landscape: recent research in early medieval Norwiche med_312 62..90 BRIAN AYERS In 1977, Alan Carter published an appraisal of the early development of Norwich in which he not only reviewed previous assessments of the city's growth but also set out models for testing by a range of archaeological and historical methodologies. Thirty years later, considerable research in Norwich has deepened understanding of pre-Conquest occupation, identifying more closely the probable development pattern and enabling a re-assessment and expansion of Carter's ideas. This paper reviews that research, seeking to determine both the character of the urban landscape by 1066 and its likely economic and social diversity, while proposing future research areas.

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A medieval timber building at London Road

Kevin Rielly

2004

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The Archaeology of trade, Thetford, Norfolk.

Philip Hill

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Excavations at St Martin-at-Palace Plain, Norwich, 1981 (2025)
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