Site Event/Activity record ESF23637 - Excavation and monitoring - Land at Westgate House, Westgate Street, Bury St Edmunds

2016-2017: The archaeological work was commissioned by CgMs Consulting on behalf of Greene King and M & S Highland, in advance of the construction of 21 new homes with associated access roads, services and landscaping. A 936m² open area was excavated in the west of the site, with an additional small detached area (70m²) to the east that had originally been designated as a watching brief (Watching Brief Area 3). Upon completion of the excavation, a 73m² extension at the south end of the main area was stripped of overburden and two additional 'exploratory' trenches machined (PCA Trenches 4 and 5) in order to answer specific questions about the spatial distribution and survival of medieval features. A watching brief was carried out during groundworks in Plots 15, 18 and 19, the garage block associated with Plots 18 and 19 (‘Plot 18/19 garages’), and the new garage block associated with the conversion of Peatlings wine merchants into a private dwelling (‘Peatlings garage’) (Appendix 10). The Plot 15 watching brief also encompassed the original area of Plot 14, the two plots having been bought together off-plan and amalgamated to enable the construction of a single large house. In the northern quarter of Plot 15 and the northern half of Plot 18 (Plate 12), general ground reduction extended down to the archaeological level and some features were fully exposed in plan. In the central and southern parts of Plot 15, the south of Plot 18, Plot 19, the Plot 18/19 garages and Peatlings garage, ground reduction did not extend down as far as the archaeological level and any features and deposits were observed and recorded only where they were exposed in the strip foundations, which were dug do a greater depth. Where ground reduction in watching brief areas reached the archaeological level, time was allowed for planning and sample excavation of some features; it was deemed that archaeology in these areas would be preserved in-situ beneath the new houses.