Watching Brief at Little Abbey Lane - Evesham Abbey Restoration: Water Connection

Archaeological monitoring during the installation of a water pipe, to provide water to Evesham Abbey Allotments a The water pipe trench was excavated along the southern side of Little Abbey Lane in a narrow verge running approximately east to west. In general, typical loams were recorded along the route, though a significant level of modern disturbance was noted, the result of installation of other services; at least three backfilled and sealed trenches were evident. Close to the central section of the water pipe route, a length of roughly constructed, roughly hewn solid sandstone block masonry was encountered. The structure appeared to form a shallow wall. It was partially sealed with an intermittent layer of concrete, and a concrete block formed the eastern terminus of the wall. Two small test pits were excavated alongside the wall to determine its width so that the new cable trench could be routed to avoid damaging the structure. The excavations deduced that the structure was approximately 11m in length, 0.5m wide with up to 0.6m of buried coursing extant. In the south west corner of the Abbey grounds, buried courses of the Abbey boundary wall were exposed, preserved to a depth of over 0.7m below the current ground surface, beyond which excavation ceased. The south face was dressed, suggesting that it may originally have been visible. Relatively modern deposits abutted the south face of the wall, which suggests that the level of Little Abbey Lane has risen, despite the ground level remaining a good 0.5m below the level of the allotment gardens.