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Report Title

Land at St. John's Church, St. John's Street, Bedford. Archaeological Field Evaluation

Publisher and Publication Year

Albion Archaeology - 2006

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Summary

Non-Technical Summary An archaeological evaluation was conducted in advance of a proposed development within land at St John's Church, St John's Street, Bedford. The study area is located close to the medieval hospital of St John, and within the late Saxon burh of southern Bedford, which is defined by the King's Ditch. Four trenches were sited within the footprint of the proposed building and associated car parking spaces. Two of the trenches contained archaeological features of Saxo- Norman to late medieval date. The features generally survived in the area of higher ground in the northern and central part of the site in the vicinity of an old mulberry tree, around which the proposed church hall is centred. Trench 1 was excavated to a depth of 1.40m and contained a substantial layer of post- medieval made-up ground. Natural geological deposits were only reached in the centre of the trench, at a depth of 1.40m. The southern end of the trench cut the edge of a large pond feature that had been filled with modern demolition rubbish in the last 30 years. Trench 2 was situated within the same pond feature and contained layers of modern debris and brick rubble. It was excavated to a depth of 1.40m. Trench 3 contained archaeological features in its northern and central area. The southern end of the trench revealed the edge of the same pond feature recorded in Trenches 1 and 2. The archaeological features consisted of shallow irregular pits and gullies that contained pottery of Saxo-Norman and late medieval date. The features may either represent medieval or post-medieval garden or landscape features or are remains of peripheral medieval activity in this area. Trench 4 was situated to investigate the surviving earthworks to the east of the proposed building site. The trench uncovered the remains of a large, pond-like feature, 8.5m in width, demonstrating that the earthworks represent the in-filled remains of medieval ponds in this area. The northern end of the trench contained several archaeological features containing pottery of Saxo-Norman date. The features comprised the remains of pits and ditches and are part of the same activity represented in Trench 3. Trench 5 was excavated by hand in order to investigate the nature and date of the north-south aligned wall within the car park. The trench exposed several courses of the wall below ground level. The nature of the stones and coursing suggests that they represent the foundation for the wall st standing and a piece of 17th -century pottery retrieved from the deposit below the wall indicates a post-medieval date for its foundation. Albion Archaeology Land at St John's Church, St John's Street, Bedford Archaeological Field Evaluation 7 1. INTRODUCTION

Table of Contents

List of Tables...................................................................................................................................... 4 List of Figures .................................................................................................................................... 4 Preface ................................................................................................................................................ 5 Structure of this report...................................................................................................................... 5 Non-Technical Summary .................................................................................................................. 6 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................7 1.1 Planning Background.......................................................................................................... 7 1.2 Site Location and Description ............................................................................................ 7 1.3 Archaeological Background................................................................................................ 7 2. TRIAL EXCAVATION...............................................................................9 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Method Statement ...............................................................................................................9 2.3 Results of the Trial Excavation ........................................................................................ 10 3. SYNTHESIS ...........................................................................................13 3.1 Discussion........................................................................................................................... 13 3.2 Summary............................................................................................................................ 14 4. APPENDICES ........................................................................................16 4.1 Appendix 1, Artefact Summary ....................................................................................... 16 4.2 Appendix 2, Trench Summary ......................................................................................... 19

Headings

15 Cardington Road
Table 1: Artefact summary by trench and feature .......................................................16
Table 2: Pottery type series..........................................................................................17
Preface
Non-Technical Summary
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Planning Background
1.2 Site Location and Description
1.3 Archaeological Background
2. TRIAL EXCAVATION
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Method Statement
2.3 Results of the Trial Excavation
2.3.1 Trench 1
2.3.2 Trench 2
2.3.3 Trench 3
2.3.4 Trench 4
2.3.5 Trench 5
3. SYNTHESIS
3.1 Discussion
3.1.1 Saxo-Norman/early medieval
3.1.2 Late medieval
3.1.3 Post-medieval
3.2 Summary
4. APPENDICES
4.1 Appendix 1, Artefact Summary
4.1.1 Introduction
40 Pit 41 Early medieval 1:6
42 Pit 43 Late medieval 1:4
42 Pit 44 Late medieval Fired clay (10g)
4.1.2 Pottery
Saxo-Norman
Medieval
4.1.3 Other artefacts
4.1.4 Animal bone
4.2 Appendix 2, Trench Summary
5 Natural Friable mid orange gravel
14 External surface Sandy gravel Car park gravel
56 Natural Friable light yellow orange silty gravel
2 Km
Archaeological Feature
Archaeological Field Evaluation