Monument record BSE 377 - Abbeygate Cinema and 4 Hatter Street, Bury St Edmunds

A monitoring was carried out at 4 Hatter Street and Abbeygate Picture House, Bury St Edmunds, in Suffolk. This involved the recording of a section and small excavated area between the two buildings, which revealed evidence of postholes, floor/yard surfaces, occupation and demolition soils, other cut features and a brick structure, all of which were late medieval. Many of these were overlaid by the extant early 16th century timber building that still occupies the site. These contexts produced late medieval tile. In addition to this, the cellar of the building was also recorded. This revealed an intricately shaped, four-room cellar, which contained a reused Norman column, abbey stone and a set of ornate ceiling joists, complete with bridging beam, thought to originate from the above-ground structure. To complement the record of the site, a brief analysis was made of an exposed area of the timber hall's roof structure. This exposed a formerly hipped-roof of an open hall, that was later extended and modified to have a gable end. The analysis of the building as a whole has revealed that the property of 4 Hatter Street was originally an L-plan timber-framed building, with a front range that ran parallel to the street (presumably with a shop below and chambers above) and an open hall running at right angles to this, running back from the street (S1).

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2011 (S2)