Lynnsport 1: Land South of Aconite Road, King’s Lynn, Norfolk

Oxford Archaeology (OA) East carried out an archaeological evaluation between 8th and 14th May 2018 at Lynnsport 1: Land South of Aconite Road, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, PE30 3PJ. This work was commissioned by Lovell Partnerships Ltd. The site comprised 3.61ha of undeveloped land, within the urban reach of King’s Lynn, proposed for residential redevelopment.
The current site constitutes the fourth (and final) evaluated area within a wider scope of works (Lynnsport 1, 3-5) scheduled to be investigated by OA East. These works lie in a significant area of industrial archaeological remains relating to later Saxon and medieval salt-making.
Norfolk Heritage Environment Record (NHER) data along with topographical survey indicated that the remains of two saltern mounds, resulting from salt-making activities (NHER 13785 and 27895), wholly lie within the bounds of the proposed development. The evaluation confirmed the presence of saltern NHER 13785 (Saltern 12). However, the trench and test pit excavated within the footprint of saltern NHER 2795 only encountered a recent build-up of made ground overlying the natural tidal flat deposits. In addition, salt-making features and deposits comprising two further saltern mounds (Salterns 10 and 11) were identified, located wholly within the development area. As well as revealing waste deposits from the salt-making process constituting the mounds, the evaluation also uncovered in-situ remains of clay-lined tanks within Saltern 10 and a pit within Saltern 11. These remains are typical of the known later Saxon and medieval salt-making evidence previously excavated in the area by OA East.
The evaluation also investigated the modern drainage channel traversing the western part of the site that was found, upon inspection of historical records, to have followed the course of a pre-existing plot boundary/land division. However, it is possible an earlier cut of this ditch alignment may potentially follow the course of a former creek related to the saltworking.
Two extensive areas of recent truncation of the underlying natural deposits were identified in the northern and southeastern parts of the site, with associated backfilling with recent material.