Site Event/Activity record ESF22627 - Watching Brief, 155 Whitton Church Lane, Ipswich.

The site was visited on the 9th June 2004 in order to inspect a footing then underway (Plate I), the location of which is illustrated in figure 1. The footing had been excavated to a depth of c.3m at which depth a natural subsoil comprising of silty sand and gravel, was encountered. This continued at this depth for some 5m before the natural subsoil rose steeply until it was c.1.5m from the surface. The material overlying the natural subsoil comprised of a pale gravelly loam with occasional fragments of what appeared to be 20th century debris. The surface of the natural subsoil was clearly truncated and no archaeological features or deposits were identified. A quick search of the spoil tips did not yield any artefacts other than modern rubbish. Other occasional visits have been made to the site but all have failed to coincide with the excavation of footings although recently excavated spoil was examined but no results. No significant archaeological deposits appear to have been damaged or destroyed by the excavation of the observed footings. The great depth of the natural subsoil as seen in the footing suggests the presence of a large pit or a possible quarry of unknown date although the fill suggests it was backfilled during the 20th century.