This emergency recording work was carried out at the request of FD Builders on behalf of Travis Perkins (The Client) as a result of the unexpected discovery of historic architectural fragments following the demolition of a redundant store building located within their builder merchants' yard at 6 Sutton Road, Plymouth. Following the unexpected discovery during site clearance, the Historic Environment Officer was made aware of the discovery on the 7th November 2023 and undertook a site visit on the 16th November 2023. Following the site visit and consultation, a recording process was agreed to record the stonework fragments already exposed and for the recording of any further fragments which may be uncovered during the remaining landscaping works. These works were undertaken in December 2023 by Dr. S.H. Walls, MCIfA, director at South West Archaeology Ltd. (SWARCH). The works at 6 Sutton Road, Plymouth, exposed a large number of architectural fragments that appear to relate to the destruction and re-building of the Lady Chapel at St. John the Baptist's Church, which is located c.100m to the north-east of the site. This demolition material was likely cleared and levelled between 1940-1955 following severe damage during an air-raid in 1940, with the (now demolished) store building subsequently built (c.1960) in part over this material. The recovered fragments do not represent the entirety of the likely five windows and other fittings and fabric which were lost in 1940, but there remains no more rubble deposit in this location, with the works stopping at the level of the former garden and footprint of the Jory Almshouse buildings. There is considered to be some potential for further demolition material to survive nearby, e.g. to the east where the ground is much higher.
Boyd et al. (Mon,) studied this question.