SNN105353 - The Archaeology of 46-50 Sheep Street, Northampton 2003-2004

Excavation at 46-50 Sheep Street examined the most substantial evidence for settlement activity within the Norman new borough recovered to date. A small cellared building may have been located on the site in the 12th century and was succeeded within a short time by intensive pit digging. A good deal of waste was dumped on the site during the early 13th century, filling the pits. A well was established thereafter from the mid-13th century that continued to be used into the 14th century, after which little activity was observed until the 16th century. Cottages were first established along the Sheep Street frontage around the date at which the street as named, c1540. A large clay extraction pit was estqablished c1670 on land to the rear of the cottages, serving some of Northamptonshire's earliest clay tobacco-pipemakers. Activity between the 18th -19th centuries included the refurbishment of the cottages along the frontage, the addition of several ancillary buildings to the rear of 48 Sheep Street, and the construction of two tenements in Wells Yard c1871, immediately behind the cottages.