Judges' Lodgings,Lancaster,Lancashire. Archaeological Excavation.

Lancashire County Council Property Service Group proposed to undertake a programme of remedial works to the western boundary wall to the rear of Judges’ Lodgings, on the east side of Castle Hill, Lancaster, Lancashire (centred NGR SD 47448 61875), comprising the removal of a garage, the construction of three stone buttresses and the rebuilding of the top section of the wall. Judges' Lodgings may well be the oldest surviving town-house in Lancaster and is a Grade I listed building, recognising that it is of exceptional interest and national importance.
In response to this proposal, Lancashire County Archaeology Service requested a programme of archaeological works. This comprised the archaeological excavation of three trenches for the new buttress foundations and monitoring during the removal of the concrete floor slab of the garage, followed by archaeological cleaning and recording. Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) undertook the required archaeological work over 16 days, from 3rd - 24th August and 30th October 2012.The excavation revealed floor surfaces in each of the three trenches, a drain running parallel to the wall in Trenches 1 and 3, and a trough and small wall in Trench 1. These features appear to belong to a small building shown on an early map of the site, which probably dates to the same period of construction as the Judges' Lodgings in the early seventeenth century. This building appears relatively short-lived, on the basis of the cartographic and artefactual evidence, being demolished by the latter part of the century.