Site Event/Activity record ESF20628 - Aviary Wall Recording, Abbey Gardens, Bury St Edmunds

An archaeological study was undertaken of the 'Aviary Wall', in the Abbey gardens, Bury St Edmunds. The wall is the remains of a range of monastic service buildings, constructed against the inside of the precinct wall within the medieval Abbey. The work included a drawn and photographic survey of each elevation of the wall and the hand-excavation of two tests holes. The surveyed section covers three distinct buildings at the east end of the range, although this is difficult to appreciate as all the internal walls have been removed, that included the bake and brew houses. The buildings are well served by a variety of windows and openings distinguishing these industrial buildings from the stables and cowsheds which make up the rest of the range. A service range was first constructed along with the precinct wall in the first half of the 12th century but the brew and bake houses date to the first half of the 13th century. The excavation demonstrates that part of the range, at least, had an undercroft or deeply sunken floor. This was filled in with a combination of demolition rubble from the destruction of the building during the Dissolution and the dumping of imported soil during the 18th and 20th centuries (S1).