Archaeological Excavations at Dunwich Suffolk, 2015 Carenza Lewis, Catherine Ranson & Nina O’Hare 1 2 Archaeological Excavations at Dunwich, Suffolk 2015 Carenza Lewis, Catherine Ranson & Nina O’Hare With contributions from Laure Bonner Event Number: ESF23170 Access Cambridge Archaeology McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research University of Cambridge Downing Street Cambridge CB2 3ER 01223 761518 [email protected] http://www.access.arch.cam.ac.uk/ (Front cover photo – Trench 4 in Dunwich beach car park - copyright ACA) 3 4 Contents 1 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................... 9 2 INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................... 10 2.1 TOUCHING THE TIDE............................................................................................................. 10 2.2 ACCESS CAMBRIDGE ARCHAEOLOGY .................................................................................... 10 2.3 DUNWICH GREYFRIARS TRUST ............................................................................................. 11 3 AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND DESIRED OUTCOMES .................................................................. 12 3.1 AIMS ................................................................................................................................... 12 3.2 OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................................ 12 3.3 OUTCOMES .......................................................................................................................... 12 4 METHODOLOGY........................................................................................................................ 13 4.1 TRIAL TRENCH EXCAVATION ................................................................................................. 13 4.2 TEST PIT EXCAVATION .......................................................................................................... 14 5 LOCATION ................................................................................................................................. 17 6 GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY .............................................................................................. 19 7 ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ...................................................... 20 7.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ................................................................................................... 20 7.2 ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND ......................................................................................... 28 7.2.1 Prehistoric Period ...........................................................................................29 7.2.2 Roman period .................................................................................................29 7.2.3 Anglo-Saxon period ........................................................................................30 7.2.4 Medieval period ..............................................................................................30 7.2.5 Post-Medieval Period ......................................................................................33 7.2.6 Modern period .................................................................................................35 7.2.7 Undated ..........................................................................................................36 8 EXCAVATION RESULTS ........................................................................................................... 37 8.1 TRENCH EXCAVATION RESULTS ............................................................................................ 38 8.1.1 Trench 1 .........................................................................................................38 8.1.2 Trench 2 .........................................................................................................42 8.1.3 Trench 3 .........................................................................................................44 8.1.4 Trench 4 .........................................................................................................50 8.2 TEST PIT RESULTS............................................................................................................... 57 8.2.1 Group 1 – Greyfriars Wood .............................................................................58 8.2.2 Group 2 – between Trenches 2 & 3 ................................................................60 8.2.3 Group 3 – 1 Coastguard Cottages ..................................................................65 9 DISCUSSION .............................................................................................................................. 67 9.1 PREHISTORIC ....................................................................................................................... 67 9.2 ROMAN ................................................................................................................................ 68 9.3 ANGLO-SAXON .................................................................................................................... 68 9.4 MEDIEVAL ............................................................................................................................ 69 9.5 POST-MEDIEVAL ................................................................................................................... 72 9.6 SOCIAL AND COMMUNITY AIMS ............................................................................................. 72 10 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................... 74 11 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... 74 12 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 75 5 13 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................ 80 13.1 TRENCH POTTERY REPORT – PAUL BLINKHORN .................................................................... 80 13.2 TEST PIT POTTERY REPORT – PAUL BLINKHORN ................................................................... 87 13.3 LITHICS QUANTIFICATION – LAWRENCE BILLINGTON............................................................... 91 13.4 FAUNAL REMAINS – VIDA RAJKOVAČA ................................................................................... 94 13.5 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT – DR RACHEL BALLANTYNE ........................................................ 100 13.6 OTHER FINDS – CATHERINE RANSON .................................................................................. 104 13.6.1 Trench Finds ............................................................................................. 104 13.6.2 Test Pit Finds ............................................................................................ 107 13.7 SCHEDULED MONUMENT CONSENT..................................................................................... 111 13.8 TEST PIT POTTERY DISTRIBUTION MAPS ............................................................................... 115 13.9 TRENCH AND TEST PIT LITHIC DISTRIBUTION MAPS ................................................................ 120 13.10 TRENCH AND TEST PIT FAUNAL REMAINS DISTRIBUTION MAPS ........................................... 131 List of Figures Figure 1: Map of England with close up insert of East Anglia and the village of Dunwich highlighted in red ....................................................................................................................................................... 17 Figure 2: 1:10,000 OS map of Dunwich with the extent of the Dunwich conservation area outlined in red (Map copyright Edina Digimap) .................................................................................................... 18 Figure 3: Map of Dunwich by Gardner 1754, which was produced with details from the first Agas map of Dunwich in 1585. (From http://www.dunwichmuseum.org.uk/whathappened/tudor.php (Accessed August 2015)) ..................................................................................................................................... 21 Figure 4: Reconstruction of the medieval town of Dunwich based on documentary, map and coastal analysis, after Sear et al. 2013: 118 ................................................................................................... 23 Figure 5: The retreating coastline at Dunwich as mapped by Sear et al. 2013: 97 ............................ 25 Figure 6: Map of Dunwich showing all known structures, after Sear et al. 2010: 16 .......................... 26 Figure 7: Dunwich 1826 Tithe Map of the Barnes Estate ................................................................... 27 Figure 8: Archaeological data known for the town of Dunwich, after Sear et al. 2013: 127 ............... 28 Figure 9: OS 1880s Map of Dunwich (Copyright Edina Digimap 1:2500) .......................................... 35 Figure 10: The location of the northern (left) and southern (right) trench and test pit locations in Dunwich (Map copyright Edina Digimap 1:2500)...............................................................................