Lower Brook Street, Ipswich

Between the 17th and 20th May 2016, Oxford Archaeology East carried out an archaeological evaluation at Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, Suffolk. Two test pits were located within an area currently used as a car park to provide information regarding the potential survival and character of any archaeological remains that may survive here. Test Pit 1 found a 19th century cellar with and in-situ asphalt floor located at a depth of 2.3m, the cellar had been subsequently backfilled with layers of brick and concrete rubble in the 1960s.
Test pit 2 uncovered natural sands and gravels at a depth of 2.3m below ground level. Above the natural was a two metre deep sequence of soil layers, probably resulting from dumping and cultivation from the late medieval period to the early 19th century. The soils contained pottery and tile ranging from the medieval to the early post-medieval period in date. Animal bones, oyster shells and charred seeds were found as well as a small number of human bone fragments.
Evidence for one or more possible garden structures of post medieval date was found. A 19th century brick wall is probably the remains of one of the industrial buildings that occupied the site during the 19th and 20th centuries.