Excavations of Early Medieval and Early Post-Medieval Features at 90-93 Broad Street, Reading

Between February and April 2002 Oxford Archaeology carried out excavations at 90–93 Broad Street, Reading (NGR
SU 7142 7342) in advance of a new retail development. The excavations revealed a cultivation soil and ditch that may
have represented activity within the grounds of the Saxon Minster; a small assemblage of early to mid Saxon pottery was
recovered from later deposits, including a single sherd of Ipswich ware. Medieval gravel pits, cess pits and a bell mould
pit were revealed within the back yards of tenements fronting Broad St and Chain St, immediately to the north of St
Mary’s Churchyard. It is likely that the bell mould pit was for the casting of a 13th-century bell for St Mary’s. The pits
contained exceptional assemblages of bird, fish and animal bone, suggestive of primary butchery and skinning in the
vicinity, as well as the presence of a high status household. There were also notable assemblages of 11th- to 13th-century
pottery and 16th- to 17th-century glass.