Glebe House, Abbey Foregate Shrewsbury Shropshire

Publication report for the Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society

for Morris Property Ltd.

CA Project: 9199 CA Report: 17149

March 2017 © Cotswold Archaeology Glebe House, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury: Publication Report

Glebe House, Abbey Foregate Shrewsbury Shropshire

Publication report for the Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society

CA Project: 9199 CA Report: 17149

Document Control Grid Revision Date Author Checked by Status Reasons for Approved revision by A 3 October 2016 Sarah MAW Internal QA MAW Cobain review Final 09 March 2017 Sarah MAW Internal QA MAW version Cobain review

This report is confidential to the client. Cotswold Archaeology accepts no responsibility or liability to any third party to whom this report, or any part of it, is made known. Any such party relies upon this report entirely at their own risk. No part of this report may be reproduced by any means without permission.

1 © Cotswold Archaeology Glebe House, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury: Publication Report

Medieval and post-medieval occupation at Glebe House, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury,

Shropshire, 2015: Summary Report

By Peter Boyer and Sarah Cobain

An archaeological excavation was undertaken in April to May 2015 at Glebe House, Abbey Foregate,

Shrewsbury, Shropshire. The excavation identified four broad phases of activity between the eleventh and twentieth centuries AD. Although residual Late Saxon material was recovered, the earliest phase of activity (Period 1: medieval) was associated with a ditched trackway at the south of the site with extensive quarry features to the north and dated to the eleventh to thirteenth centuries. Period 2 (later medieval activity) saw extensive pitting activity towards the eastern edge of the site, possibly associated with domestic occupation further east, and dated to the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries.

Period 3 (post-medieval activity) comprised pitting which continued through the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries and still appeared to be associated with domestic activity, though a large boundary ditch was also established sometime during this period. This post-medieval activity also saw the construction of a small number of likely timber structures on the site. Period 4 features dated from the later eighteenth into the twentieth centuries and included further pit digging but also more extensive structural development with the foundations of some buildings and a brick culvert surviving towards the south of the site.

A moderate assemblage of pottery was recovered dating from the medieval to early modern periods, comprising medieval cooking pots, pitchers and jugs alongside a small number of floor tile fragments.

Other finds include iron nails/nail fragments, a rectangular container which may have been used to store needles, a small quantity of clay tobacco pipe and fragments of wine/spirits bottle glass.

Introduction

In April and May 2015, Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological investigation at the request of Morris Property Limited, at Glebe House, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, Shropshire

2 © Cotswold Archaeology Glebe House, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury: Publication Report

(centred on NGR: SJ 4980 1259; Fig. 1). The excavation was carried out in accordance with standard

CA excavation and recording practices, and monitored by Shropshire Council.

The development site was approximately 1.1ha, located to the east of Shrewsbury town centre and the

River Severn, approximately 50m north of Abbey Foregate, which lies immediately to the north of the

remains of the medieval Shrewsbury Abbey. Archaeological work focussed on areas of moderate and

high archaeological potential in the eastern part of the site, as outlined in the development’s Heritage

Impact Assessment (Morriss 2013). The work initially entailed a trial trench evaluation (CA 2014), which revealed areas of pits and structural remains. This was followed by a more extensive excavation of 0.2ha in the south-east of the development site.

A detailed record of the excavation, including full specialist finds and biological evidence reports, is contained within a typescript report (CA 2016, report no. 16212) available online via the Cotswold

Archaeology website (http://reports.cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk/). This paper represents a summary of that report.

Results

Geological deposits encountered during excavation comprised yellow-brown sandy gravel, representing river terrace deposits. The surface of the terrace sloped downwards towards the south- west, and the western part of the site was overlain by up to 1.4m of firm, yellow-brown fine clayey silt alluvium, most likely laid down as a flood deposit by a channel of the Severn.

Period 1: Medieval (eleventh to thirteenth century) (Fig. 2)

Although residual early medieval pottery was recovered from ditch 6184, the earliest phase of activity on the site commenced after the Norman Conquest and extended into the thirteenth century. This period was characterised towards the south of the site by two broadly parallel, east/west-aligned ditches (6052 and 6184/6102) which were 2.5–3m apart and could be traced for at least 17m. Ditch

6184/6102 produced a small amount of thirteenth-century pottery, a lead-alloy object and a small

3 © Cotswold Archaeology Glebe House, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury: Publication Report quantity of animal bone. Other features dating to this period included quarry pits 6073, 6207, 6171 and well 6079 to the north, and quarry pit 6174 towards the south-east of the site. These contained small amounts of pottery dating to the eleventh to thirteenth centuries. In addition, well 6079 contained a small rectangular iron container, thought to have been used to store needles. Although the trackway and quarry pits suggest activities some distance from areas of occupation, the construction of a well towards the end of this phase indicates that by this time there was some domestic settlement nearby.

Period 2: Later medieval (thirteenth to fifteenth century) (Fig. 2)

There was a continuation of activity into the later medieval period, which has been assigned a broad thirteenth to fifteenth-century date. Evidence for late medieval activity was generally found towards the eastern edge of the site, where there had been less truncation during later periods of occupation, and included waste pits 4021, 4029, 6146 and 6154, cess pits 4006 and 4014, and well 4017. Cess pits

4006 and 4014 contained organic deposits interpreted as possible human waste, alongside assemblages of twelfth to fifteenth-century pottery in the upper backfill deposits. Well 4017 measured at least 1.3m deep, with evidence of a heavily decayed timber lining, and was filled with a clayey silt deposit containing a small assemblage of thirteenth to fourteenth-century pottery alongside a quantity of animal bone. Towards the west was compacted stony material 2011 and 2017, possibly remnants of a former metalled surface, and pit 6049, which contained a small assemblage of floor tile and pottery alongside three iron nails. To the north-west of pit 6049 was tree-throw pit 6110 which contained a small amount of fourteenth to fifteenth-century pottery.

Period 3: Post-medieval (sixteenth to mid- eighteenth century) (Fig. 2)

There was a continuity of activity from the later medieval into the earlier post-medieval period within a broad period covering the sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century. Towards the east of the site there was intensification of pitting activity. Waste pits 4009, 6190, 6182 and 6170 and quarry pit 6101 all contained pottery dating between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, with other finds including, bottle glass and clay tobacco-pipe fragments and a small amount of animal bone. A number of other

4 © Cotswold Archaeology Glebe House, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury: Publication Report

artefactually undated pits were identified in this area, but have been phased as post-medieval based on their form and fill consistency. Towards the north of the area, postholes 6113, 6114, 6119, 6130 and

6143 were recorded. Postholes 6113, 6119 and 6130 formed an approximate north/south alignment suggesting a possible fence line. Posthole 6113 contained a clay tobacco-pipe bowl dated to the late seventeenth or eighteenth centuries.

Extending westwards from the eastern area was ditch/ditch recut 6121/6123. Although a boundary ditch appears in this location on the 1912 Ordnance Survey map, excavation of ditch recut 6123 revealed a sherd of seventeenth-century pottery suggesting a post-medieval date for the feature. To the north of the ditch, large quarry pit 6088 partly truncated Period 1 quarry pit 6073 and had itself been truncated by oval pit 6063, which contained a small finds assemblage suggesting a late seventeenth to early eighteenth -century date. To the south of ditch/ditch recut 6121/6123 was pit 6219, which was

1.42m in diameter and lined with clay, within which survived the base of a barrel (Fig. 3). The basal fill of the barrel was a lime deposit, suggesting the feature was associated with the leather tanning industry. A small number of postholes were scattered across the south of the site, but their function is uncertain.

Period 4: Later post-medieval to early modern (mid-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century) (Fig. 2)

Activity continued and intensified on the site from the second half of the eighteenth century through to the mid- nineteenth century. At the western edge of the excavation area, north-east/south-west- aligned ditch/ditch recut 6135/6137 was recorded cutting through a post-medieval flood deposit (not illustrated). There was a continuation of pitting, mostly in the north and north-western areas of the site comprising pits 6004, 6037, 6039, 6041, 6043, 6045 and 6125, which were mostly undated and phased only by stratigraphic relationships, although pits 6004 and 6125 did contain pottery of nineteenth -century date. Large pit 6199, in the south-west of the excavation area, was possibly a quarry for the extraction of materials associated with nineteenth-century structural development.

5 © Cotswold Archaeology Glebe House, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury: Publication Report

There was also evidence of short-lived structural activity, with robber trenches 2021, 6007/2004 and

6201, and shallow foundation trench 6009. Ditch 6015, located 1m south of foundation trench 6009, may have been another robbed-out foundation. Surviving structural remains included north- west/south-east-aligned culvert 6220, located in the south-west of the site, which had vertical side walls and an arched roof. Aligned perpendicular to the culvert was brick-and-sandstone wall foundation 3005, which survived to at least four courses high. Approximately 7m north-east of wall

3005 were the extensive remains of foundations of structure 6017. This was a pair of semi-detached houses that lay on the north side of Horsefair and are visible on early Ordnance Survey maps, having been constructed some time before 1882. In the south-east corner of the site, foundation 6152 was rectangular in shape, built from irregularly coursed, sandstone blocks and appeared to be the foundation for a pillar or column.

Modern

The site continued to be utilised into the twentieth century with extensive service trenches truncating many earlier features. The latest deposits on the site were the dumping, levelling and bedding layers that formed the base for the modern car park surface.

Finds and biological evidence

Artefactual material recovered from site included pottery, ceramic building material (CBM), iron and lead metal finds, clay tobacco pipe, glass and animal bone. Summaries are presented here with full methodological details and results tables available within a typescript report (CA 2016, report no.

16212) available online via the Cotswold Archaeology website

(http://reports.cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk/).

A moderate assemblage of pottery amounting to 328 sherds (6744g) was recorded, the majority being of medieval date (Period 1). The pottery was quantified by sherd count and weight, with details of glaze, decoration, sooting and residues/deposits also recorded. It was assigned a fabric type and matched, where possible, to an established pottery type series for the area. The majority of the pottery

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was almost certainly of local manufacture. Five main periods of pottery were identified (Table 1), conforming broadly to the four periods outlined in the main body of the report.

Table 1: Period boundaries

Period Pottery period

Period 1: Medieval (11th – 13th century) Early medieval (c. 1100 – c. 1225/1250)

High medieval (c. 1250 – 1450) Period 2: Later medieval (13th – 15th century) Late medieval (1400 – 1550/1600)

Period 3: Post-medieval (16th – 18th century) Post-medieval (1600 – 1800)

Period 4: Later post-medieval to early modern (mid-18th – mid-19th century) Modern (1800 – 2000) Modern: Modern (mid-19th – 20th century)

Most of the medieval pottery consisted of jugs and cooking pots, with preponderance by weight of

cooking pots over glazed pitchers and jugs. This was partly a result of the presence of a substantial

section of a cooking pot from well fill 6193. The Early Medieval wares (Bryant's (2002) Early Glazed

Sandy Wares) are largely paralleled by pottery from Haughmond Abbey and the Queen Anne's House

site (Shrewsbury Abbey). Non-local cooking pots were in Worcester-type ware and Malvernian

cooking-pot ware. The High Medieval pottery can be matched by the pottery from the Queen Anne

House (Bryant's (2002) Local Sandy Ware). From the late fourteenth century, locally-produced

pottery appears to have been augmented by Malvern Chase ware, but only two sherds of this ware

were recovered from Glebe House, reinforcing the impression that most of the medieval pottery from

the site pre-dated the late fourteenth century. A limited number of post-medieval sherds were present,

such as yellow ware, blackware, slip-decorated ware and slip-coated ware. These wares are common

in the West Midlands and are primarily associated with production sites in Staffordshire. However,

the examples from Shrewsbury suggest manufacture within the county, possibly in the Ironbridge

Gorge/Coalbrookdale area, though it is also possible that some of the slip-decorated wares were made

at Buckley, North Wales.

7 © Cotswold Archaeology Glebe House, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury: Publication Report

A total of 34 fragments (4004g) of ceramic building material was recovered, including a selection of brick and wall, roof and floor tiles, the fabrics of which were consistent with them being made locally.

Of note was one tile with the design of two peacocks flanking a stylised tree, dating to the late thirteenth to early fourteenth century, which is associated with the Wessex School and as such is well outside its normal distribution zone. A tile with a cross and a fleurs-de-lys dating to the fifteenth century was also identified. No exact parallels for this could be found, but similar tiles are known from Wigmore Castle (Mills 2015, plate 8; Rátkai 2015, 199–202, plates 10–11) and seem to be part of a north-west Midlands and Welsh group of designs.

Other artefacts of note included a small iron container (Ra. 7501), which was recovered from Period 1 medieval well 6079. The x-ray shows this item to be hollow and of rectangular box-like construction, with three rivets to one of its longer faces, probably to secure an overlapping join. It may have been used as a container for needles. Other metal finds included iron nails, a copper-alloy ring and a lead strip and slab of waste/spill. Three fragments of bottle glass dating to the later seventeenth and nineteenth centuries were also recovered. The largest fragment, from pit 6190, is a portion from a round-bodied and wide-based vessel unlikely to date after c. 1730 (Noël Hume 1969, 63–64).

A small assemblage of poorly preserved animal bones (91 fragments) was recovered and identified as cattle, sheep/goat, dog and unidentifiable large mammal. The bones from Period 3 (post-medieval) barrel pit 6219 were in good condition and were most likely buried quickly following discard, but provided no evidence as to the use/function of the feature.

Discussion

The results from the excavation and preceding evaluation demonstrated occupation of at least part of the site from as early as the eleventh century, with activity continuing throughout the medieval and post-medieval periods.

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Environmental setting

The underlying natural geology of the site sloped gently downwards from north-east to south-west but

significantly the lower-lying parts of the site had been inundated by alluvial flood deposits, probably

from the Rea Brook (a tributary of the Severn) located to the south of the site. This flooding may have

been a factor in there being sparse evidence of occupation in the west of the area excavated, with this

area left as open fields for pasture, or even used as water meadows. Early maps, e.g. John Speed’s

plan of 1610, indicate a vast open area between the western edge of the site and the Severn, though

the Rea Brook had been extensively modified and a mill race constructed in association with the

development of Shrewsbury Abbey in the medieval period.

Early development

The finds evidence indicates activity in the vicinity of the site during the early medieval period but

there was no evidence for significant activity until the years after the Norman Conquest. This early

activity comprised a series of quarry pits dug into river terrace deposits to extract coarse sand and

gravel aggregates. To the south of the site, two parallel ditches appeared to have delineated a

trackway. In addition to moving cattle to and from the floodplain pasture areas to the west, it is not

unreasonable to suggest that quarried material was transported along this trackway, either westwards

to the Severn or eastwards to some other destination.

The establishment of Horsefair was broadly contemporary with that of Shrewsbury Abbey in the

1080s. Material excavated from the quarries recorded on site may have been used to form the surface

of Horsefair, as a number of the quarry backfill deposits dated to the eleventh to thirteenth centuries,

Development at this time may also may have involved plots that previously fronted Abbey Foregate

(Baker 2010, 123) and extended north towards the trackway. An early association between the site

and the abbey is therefore implied.

In the thirteenth century, a well was dug through the edge of one of the backfilled quarry pits,

suggesting that by this time there was some domestic settlement in the vicinity, possibly associated

9 © Cotswold Archaeology Glebe House, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury: Publication Report with light industrial activity. No evidence of contemporary domestic occupation or industrial activity was found, but this may be because of the extensive later development in this area, and truncation of earlier deposits.

Later medieval development

Although much of the post-Conquest activity on the site concerned activities carried out in areas peripheral to the main foci of settlement, the later medieval evidence comprising another well, cess pits and general waste pits suggests that there was domestic and/or light industrial activity immediately to the east of the site. It has been suggested (Morriss 2013, 6) that the area around the abbey may have been divided into burgage plots during the medieval period, the narrow plots extending on perpendicular alignments away from the main streets and thoroughfares.

It is possible that ditch 6121 and postholes 6113, 6119 and 6130, which make up a north/south- orientated fenceline, formed boundaries to properties fronting Horsefair to the south (Fig. 4). Beyond these boundaries, towards the north and west, activity changes with fewer waste pits and postholes, and the presence of large quarry pit 6088.

These property boundaries follow similar burgage plot alignments as found by Hannaford (1991) during an evaluation undertaken on the north side of Horsefair, and immediately east of the current development site (Fig. 4). From this work, approximately north/south plots were extrapolated from the features excavated and investigations revealed evidence for buildings, metalled surfaces and possible bronze-working (Hannaford 1991).

Dissolution of the Abbey and the post-medieval period

Following the Dissolution of Shrewsbury Abbey in 1540 there were changes within this part of the town, though it is difficult to detect the extent of influence this had on activity within the site. Much of the abbey was destroyed in the decades following the Dissolution and Speed’s map of 1610 shows that by the early seventeenth century the only significant survival was the abbey church at the west of

the precinct. Speed’s map also indicates that there was a row of houses at the southern edge of the

site, fronting onto the north side of Horsefair. Some ephemeral remains (mostly postholes) of early

post-medieval timber structures were identified but it was difficult to define their nature and extent,

and furthermore, they were generally not located at the southern edge of the site. Archaeological

evidence for early post-medieval buildings along the north of Horsefair is therefore largely absent,

probably because of later extensive truncation.

Documentary evidence indicates the industrial nature of the Foregate suburb in the post-medieval

period, with metal and leather-working being recorded from the sixteenth century. One of the most

distinctive features from the earlier post-medieval period was the barrel base within pit 6219, which

was probably associated with the leather industry, the deposit of lime probably having been for

preparing animal hides as part of the tanning process. It is possible that other contemporary ephemeral

features and building remains were also associated with industrial activity on the site.

Later Post-medieval Development and the Modern Period

The buildings shown on the southern site frontage on Speed’s 1610 map also appeared on that produced by John Rocque in 1746, but appear to have been largely removed by the end of the eighteenth century when little development was shown here on Wood’s 1838 plan of Shrewsbury.

Ordnance Survey maps from the later nineteenth century indicate redevelopment on the southern frontage and elsewhere on the site, with further developments taking place in the modern period. The archaeological evidence comprised further pits from the later eighteenth century, probably from the time when late medieval/early post-medieval structures had been demolished and prior to nineteenth- century urban expansion. Increased structural development from the nineteenth century onwards was apparent in the archaeological record, including the foundations of a semi-detached residential building evident on the 1882 and subsequent Ordnance Survey maps, and a broadly contemporary culvert to the south-west. Later developments included demolition of the semi-detached building and dumping and levelling prior to establishment of the car park that occupied the site at the time of the archaeological investigations.

Acknowledgements

CA would like to thank Morris Property Ltd for funding the work, and Dr Andy Wigley, Natural and

Historic Environment Manager of Shropshire Council, for his advice. Fieldwork was directed by Peter

Busby under the management of Richard Young. The pottery report was written by Stephanie Rátkai, architectural fragment, clay tobacco pipe, metal and vessel glass finds reports were written by E.R.

McSloy and the faunal remains report by Matilda Holmes. The documentary evidence was written by

Nigel Baker. The illustrations were prepared by Lucy Martin, Leo Heatley and Tilia Cammegh, and the post-excavation work was managed by Sarah Cobain and Mary Alexander.

The archive has been compiled and will be deposited with Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery under accession number E.00584 (2014).

PETER BOYER BA (Hons), MA, PhD, is a Project Officer for Cotswold Archaeology and he joined the company in 2016.

SARAH COBAIN BSc (Hons), MSc, ACIFA, is a Post-Excavation Manager for Cotswold

Archaeology and she joined the company in 2010.

Bibliography

Baker, N., 2010. Shrewsbury: an archaeological assessment of an English border town (Oxford:

English Heritage/Oxbow Books).

BGS (British Geological Survey) 2016. Geology of Britain Viewer. Online resource at http://map

apps.bgs.ac.uk/geologyofbritain/home.html (accessed 25 April 2016).

CA (Cotswold Archaeology) 2016. Glebe House, Shrewsbury, Shropshire; archaeological

excavation, CA Report 16212

CA (Cotswold Archaeology) 2014. Land to the rear of Holy Cross Almshouses, Abbey Foregate,

Shrewsbury, Shropshire; archaeological evaluation, CA Report 14001

Hannaford, H.R., 1991. An archaeological evaluation of a proposed development at Horse Fair,

Shrewsbury, Shropshire County Council Leisure Services, Unpublished report.

Mills, P., 2015. ‘Ceramic Building Material’ in S. Rátkai Wigmore Castle, North Herefordshire:

Excavations 1996 and 1998, SMA Monograph Series 34, 137–143

Morriss, R.K., 2013. Land to the Rear of Holy Cross Almshouses, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury: A

Desk Based Archaeological Study and Heritage Impact Assessment

Noël Hume, I., 1969. A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America, (Philadelphia, University of

Pennsylvania Press)

Rátkai, S., 2015 'An Overview of the Excavated Evidence' in S. Rátkai 2015 Wigmore Castle, North

Herefordshire: Excavations 1996 and 1998, Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph

Series 34, 198–226

Captions for illustrations

Fig. 1 Site location plan (scale 1:25,000 and 1:7500)

Fig. 2 Site phase plan (scale 1:200)

Fig. 3 Photograph; Barrel base within pit 6219, looking west (1m scale)

Fig. 4 The Abbey Foregate Suburb (after Baker 2003)