Monument record WLB 014 - The Church of St Andrew (Med)

Provision of a new disabled toilet at the Church of St. Andrew, Walberswick included considerable ground disturbance within the body of the nave of the medieval church (now ruined). Three trenches were manually excavated as an evaluation on the line of the proposed sewer within the body of the church, and subsequently the sewer trench itself was excavated by archaeologists. No medieval floor surfaces were encountered, although pamments had been re-used and lain as a semi-formal surface immediately south of the doorway. Generally, the soil profile comprised c.0.20-0.30 metres of sandy loam topsoil over a further c.0.20-0.30 of brown stony sand, with localised sandy layers and inclusions of tile, brick and lime mortar, with the naturally occurring podsolised sand subsoil encountered at a depth of c.0.6 metres. A linear feature crossing the evaluation trench was not subsequently identified in the sewer trench itself. However, the cuts for three presumed burials were recorded continuing on down into the subsoil beyond the excavated depth of the trench. These remained undisturbed. One other feature, with evidence for in-situ burning, was recorded towards the northern end of the sewer trench and was interpreted as a hearth used to melt lead during the partial demolition of the nave and north aisle. The flint rubble and lime mortar footing for the north wall of the nave was found to continue uninterrupted across the north doorway, the vestiges of a sandstone threshold was recorded during the evaluation stage of the project (S1).