St Anne's Hospital, Boroughgate, Appleby-in-Westmorland: Archaeological Watching Brief

The project comprised an archaeological watching brief, which was maintained during the groundworks associated with the construction of a new outbuilding. The watching brief included close monitoring of topsoil stripping and ground reduction by machine from the area of the new outbuilding, followed by the excavation of foundation trenches around the periphery. This work revealed medieval activity in the form of two pits and associated deposits, dated by pottery to the late 12th to 14th centuries. The garden is believed to have originally encompassed four medieval burgages, and one of the boundaries may have been immediately to the south of the excavation area. The pits would have been situated to the rear of medieval dwellings on Boroughgate, and were possibly next to one of the medieval burgage boundaries. The material recovered from the pits was typical of domestic activity during the period, comprising medieval ceramics and food waste, including animal bone and charred cereal grain.