What is recorded here

Beneath Hammond Lane and Church Street, buried banks and ditches mark a river defence dating from AD 1010 to 1160. Stake-holes between the banks formed rectangular boxes, perhaps guides for timber or markers for work. The shape suggests people held back water, shaped a bank and lived beside a river that still moves under the town.

Pre-development excavations in 3-15 Hammond Lane/161-168 Church Street revealed a series of banks and ditches representing river defences. The primary fill of one of the ditches produced calibrated radiocarbon dates that range from AD 1010-1160. Pottery from both the upper layers of the bank and ditch dated from the 12th/13th century. Between the banks were several lines of stake-holes which formed rectangular boxes (Cryerhall, A, 2006, 136 in Excavations 2003).

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