Informative Trenching as part of a Programme of Archaeological Mitigatory Works at 72 Howard Street, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

Pre-Construct Archaeology (PCA) has been commissioned by Optimum Rent Ltd to undertake Informative Trenching as part of a Programme of Archaeological Mitigatory Works at 72 Howard Street, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk (NGR TG 5227 0755) in response to a Brief, issued by Steve Hickling of the Norfolk County Council Environment Service of (HES/NCC, ref CNF44790), for a Programme of Archaeological Mitigatory Works (POAMW). The Early medieval phase of the site is composed of a series of banded occupational deposits, a refuse pit that truncates them, and a cess pit. The earliest layer on site, (62) was dated by pottery in 11-12 c., followed by two similar occupational layers. This types of features are most likely related to a nearby structure, although, due to the small extent of the excavation and the degree of truncation, we couldn't establish if this was interior or exterior surfaces. Truncating this layer was a small refuse pit, although it`s likely the initial use of the pit was quarrying sand. The top fill of the pit, (70), contained a small amount of animal bones, mostly fish bones, a small amount of fired clay, and two sherds of pottery dated in 11th - 14th century. Again, this confirms the continuity of occupation, and the vicinity of nearby structures, with the fired clay probably related to a hearth, oven or furnace with another function. Probably the most important feature discovered on site was a rectangular cess pit [68], lined with clinker build timber and bound by iron nails. The basal fill (76) had a high content of cess, but also, recovered from the samples were animal bones, especially fish bones, heavily burnt flint, a iron fishing hook and one pottery fragment dated in 11th-12th Century. The later fill (74) contained no finds, probably marking a deliberate backfill of the cess, but was followed by a fill, (74), with no finds, marking the disuse phase of the pit, and probably it`s intentional backfilling. The infilling of the cess pit upper part might have been a long process, with the later occupational fill (69) containing 2 animal bones and 4 fragments of pottery dated in 12th-14th century. The cess pit probably contained an upper structure made by clay walls (65). The clay capping was an interesting layer, which looked in both plan and section as a clay floor adjacent on clay and timber wall (73). It is noted in literature that modern latrines used by US Army (Smith 2021) should be sealed with several 8-cm thick layers of compacted earth or clay.