Ipswich UAD child record record IPS 1062 - Building 3524

This sunken featured building lay 5m west of roadway 1590. It had been cut away on both its southern and western sides by later features, leaving 4.6m of the north wall and 2.6m of the east wall. Excavation to the south of modern concrete footing 5029, that had removed the south side of the building, failed to reveal any traces of the structure, indicating that the building could not have exceeded 5m from north to south. As 4.6m of the north wall was revealed, with no sign of a return for the west wall, it would seem probable that the structure was orientated at right angles to street 1590. The building was only cut 60cm into the surface of the natural, but was also cut through an 80cm thick occupation layer 80cm (3475) above that appeared to be contemporary with fill layer 0085, deposited above the metalled street surface (1590). This would give a depth for the sunken feature of 1.4m below the contemporary ground surface.
The walls were constructed of regularly spaced posts in a continuous foundation trench (4755 along the north wall and 4756 along the east wall). The north trench had five postholes (4749, 4750, 4752, 4753, 4754) and the east wall had three (4748, 4751, 4767).
From the size of the post impressions in the clay floor and their elongated shape, it would appear that the building was dismantled and the posts pulled out for re-use elsewhere. This could indicate a short life for the building, if the timbers had not disintegrated sufficiently to be of no further use.
The base of the sunken feature was lined with a clay floor (4747) which had straight edges along the outer edges of the postholes indicating the line of the plank revetment behind them (of which there was no trace).
The building cut MLS pit 4791 (with 2.9% St Neot’s ware), the base of which was sealed below floor 4747, and the construction features were associated with an MLS pottery assemblage (4.9% St Neot’s ware). This suggests an MLS phase 2 construction date. The backfill of the building appears to have been very early EMED (only 10 sherds of EMED pottery with nearly 2300 Thetford ware sherds). The backfilled building was cut by two EMED pits (3564, 4735), (S1).