The works comprised a series of trial trench evaluations proceeded by excavations across 3 sites. Following post-excavation assessments, radiocarbon dating and further artefactual analysis was conducted. Limited evidence of early prehistoric activity was identified on the sites, suggesting transient activity focussed around the River Skerne. Later prehistoric activity was shown only by a residual pot sherd from Feethams West. A sherd of 5th-8th century pot from the Town Hall suggests activity in the area in the first part of the early medieval period. A curvilinear boundary dating from the 8th-10th centuries was recorded at Feethams West, possibly defining an oval enclosure for a farmstead or thegnly manor. The settlement was restructured towards the end of the early medieval period and subsequently developed an urban character, indicated by pre-Conquest tenement plots on the Town Hall. The bishop's manor was built on the Town Hall site in the 12th century, with the pre-Conquest ditch system probably backfilled to facilitate its construction. Artefacts relating to the use of the manor between the 12th and 14th centuries were identified on all the sites, reflecting the use of the estate for hunting and the keeping of dogs and horses. Activity was much reduced following the 14th century, with only a few features on each site dating to the end of the medieval period. This compliments historical evidence for a reduction in the use of the manor. Pits dating to the 14th-15th centuries identified at Beaumont Street Car Park reflect small-scale industrial or domestic activity associated with burgage plots, although the boundary ditch defining the southern boundary of such plots was not established until after the pits went out of use. Very little evidence for the 16th to 18th centuries was recorded on any of the sites. The only features that may date to this period were present on Beaumont Street Car Park, and probably relate to the site's use as gardens. Similar features were likely truncated by landscaping dating to the late-18th or early-19th centuries at Feethams West. A workhouse, constructed in the early 19th century on the Town Hall site, was the most substantial evidence post-medieval activity.
Rachel Wells (Mon,) studied this question.