Monument record DUN 103 - Grey Friars, Friary Church (Time Team)

Geophysical survey confirmed the presence of a large church 60m in length and excavation located the south-west corner of the Nave of the friary church. Window glass and decorative mouldings further confirmed the presence of a high status ecclesiastical building (S1 S2).

An evaluation was carried out by Channel 4’s ‘Time Team’ on two sites: on the site of the Hospital of the Holy Trinity, also known as the Maison Dieu (DUN 006), currently used as the Beach Car Park; and within the precinct of the Franciscan friary, commonly known as Greyfriars (DUN 003).
Two trenches and a testpit were excavated in the car park, thought to be the approximate location of the Maison Dieu. Although no medieval structures were located, the presence of medieval pottery, window glass and stone mouldings suggested the proximity of high status, probably ecclesiastical medieval buildings.
In the second area, a trench over the medieval town ditch confirmed previous archaeological fieldwork in locating a large ditch with an internal bank. Pottery from this feature, dating between the late 11th and 14th centuries, continues to support the idea that this section of ditch pre-dates the friary complex. Although the height of the bank was substantially reduced it was not clear whether this was deliberately levelled as was the conclusion drawn from earlier excavations. Further information about the layout of the friary complex was mostly obtained from the geophysical survey, which indicates several possible structures to the S of the church. Medieval window glass and decorative stone mouldings were recovered from a trench situated on what was believed to be the SE corner of the nave. A further trench within the precinct located a quarry pit which could not be conclusively dated. As this feature did not truncate any structural remains and contained no demolition material in its backfill, there is the possibility that the pit was concerned with construction rather than demolition on the site.Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2011 (S3).