SNN109174 - An Archaeological Trial Trench Evaluation at Swan Street Car Park, Northampton July 2013

An archaeological trial trench excavation at Swan Street car park, Northampton, identified a medieval pit below cultivation soils, similar to evidence previously identified at nearby sites within the Norman New Borough. The medieval soils had been heavily truncated by post-medieval terracing in the south of the proposed development, fronting St. Johns Terrace. Below the main car park the medieval layers were thicker and more deeply buried, but had been subjected to heavy vertical truncation by basements, a well and service lines belonging to the former Lion Foundary. No structural remains were identified that predated the foundry works. Sufficient pottery was retrieved to provide a datable stratigraphic sequence, but the quantity of finds suggested a site with low intensity medieval activity and with minimal dumping.