Site Event/Activity record ESF25048 - Deposit, Proposed Student Village, Fore Street, Ipswich, (IAS 5908).

Glaciofluvial sand and gravel, sloping down from northeast to southwest, was overlaid in places by a prehistoric buried soil horizon. Occupation of the site in the prehistoric period was represented principally by a pit containing Neolithic-earlier Bronze Age worked flints and a ditch containing decorated pottery of a similar date. There was little evidence for the use of the site in the Roman period, and Anglo-Saxon occupation was indicated principally by moderate amounts of residual pottery. During the medieval period much of the site was used as a cemetery, which is thought to have been that of the 'lost' church or chapel known as Ostirbolt. Thirteen burials were identified in the south-western, northern and eastern parts of the site. The corner of a postulated timber building, represented by beam slots and adjacent post holes, was identified near the centre of the site. It is likely that this building was contemporary with the cemetery, if not earlier. Other significant evidence for medieval activity included dumping for land reclamation along the southern edge of the site, in what must have previously been the inter-tidal zone of the river, and the subsequent construction of a waterfront building, represented by a flint and septaria foundation. The cellars of at least two Tudor buildings (one of which has been identified from early maps as a malt house) were found along the southern frontage of the site. Project status: Complete Yes, Validated Yes Previous/Future Work: Previous No, Future Not known Associated Identifiers: HER event no. IPS 639 Planning Application No. IP/11/00267/FUL NMR No. 1568842 Project Type: Field evaluation Development Type: Urban residential (e.g. flats, houses, etc.) Methods and Techniques: ''Sample Trenches'' Position in the Planning Process: Between deposition of an application and determination Reason for Investigation: Planning condition Monument Type(s)/Period(s): PIT Early Bronze Age , DITCH Early Bronze Age , BURIALS Medieval , BUILDINGS Medieval , BUILDINGS Post Medieval , LAND RECLAMATION Medieval Artefact Type(s)/Period(s): POTTERY Early Bronze Age , WORKED FLINTS Early Bronze Age , POTTERY Early Medieval , POTTERY Medieval PROJECT LOCATION Area 7000.00 Square metres Grid Reference: TM16734417 Point PROJECT CREATOR(S) Brief originator: Local Authority Archaeologist and/or Planning Authority/advisory body Design originator: K. Wade Director/Manager: Rhodri Gardner Supervisor: Kieron Heard DIGITAL ARCHIVE Recipient: Suffolk County SMR ID: IPS 639 Contents: 'Animal Bones', 'Ceramics', 'Glass', 'Human Bones', 'Industrial', 'Metal', 'Stratigraphic', 'Survey', 'Worked stone/lithics' Media: 'Database', 'Images raster / digital photography', 'Images vector', 'Survey', 'Text' PAPER ARCHIVE Recipient: Suffolk County SMR ID: IPS 639 Contents: 'Stratigraphic' Media: 'Context sheet', 'Matrices', 'Photograph', 'Plan', 'Report', 'Section' PHYSICAL ARCHIVE Recipient: Suffolk County SMR ID: IPS 639 Contents: 'Ceramics', 'Glass', 'Human Bones', 'Industrial', 'Metal', 'Worked stone/lithics', 'Animal Bones' BIBLIOGRAPHY Publication Type: Grey literature (unpublished document/manuscript) Title: Archaeological Evaluation Report: Student Village, Fore Street, Ipswich (IPS 639) Author(s)/Editor(s): Heard, K Other Bibliographic Details: SCCAS report number 2011/075 Date: 2011 Issuer/Publisher: Suffolk County Council Place of Issue or Publication: Ipswich Description: A4, 67 pages, plus appendices, wire bound