CBA SMA\SMA 1998.PDF - Council for British Archaeology

Bedfordshire
with houses, hostelries and shops as well as the rectory at 18
St Cuthbert's. It is during this period that the early evidence
was substantially truncated by a diversity of activities from
later pit digging to recent (early 19th century) house
construction. In particular the provision of services to the
latter in the 20th century has added another raft of damage.
The damage was most acute on the frontage beneath the
location of the proposed structures at 2 St Cuthbert's Street,
due to the cellarage in the north portion of the site and
geotechnical holes excavated in the 1960s. (extract from
BCAS Report 98/02)
Bedford, Town Centre Improvement Scheme
Mark Phillips and Michael Dawson
The third phase of the town centre improvements scheme
was initiated by Bedford Borough Council in 1997. It
comprised limited worlcs including the reconstruction of
roads at the junction of Horne Lane and St Paul 's Road, the
junction of Midland Road and River Street and construction
of a roundabout at the west end of Home Lane. The shallow
nature of the work confirmed that little archaeology survives
above approximately 26 m to 26.5 m OD but below this
height remains can be expected to be extensive. During this
watching brief Medieval deposits, including a stone lined
well and a pit, were disturbed along the east side of River
Street.
Bedford, 14- 15a St Paul's Square, Bedford (Fig 1, 2)
Mark Phillips and Sean Steadman
The site was discovered during the conversion of a former
estate agent's office into a pub, on the north side of St Paul 's
Square in Bedford town centre.
The site is located within the northern burh which was
established with its planned layout of streets sometime
during the Saxon period, possibly by the end of the 8th
century AD. Previous excavations in St Paul's Square in
1987 uncovered a number of burials of Late
Saxon-Medieval date.
Archaeological involvement in the site commenced after the
building inspector, Chris Sawford, recognised human
remains in the builders' trenches. The refurbishment work
involved the removal of most of the internal walls and the
floors. Steel work to support the new internal structure
required the excavation of foundation trenches at regular
intervals. The trenches measured approximately 1.5 m
square and were cut down to the top of the grave fills. The
cemetery deposits and deeper cutting features were
excavated archaeologically. The strata excavated by the
builders were recorded in section.
The earliest phase of the site consists of a cemetery. The
deepest graves were cut into the clean underlying sandy
natural. It proved difficult to identify the grave cuts of
burials found higher up the profile as they lay within a
homogenous layer of only slightly modified subsoil.
Excavation within small trenches has resulted in a
discontinuous view of the cemetery, many of the burials
could only be partially uncovered with the remainder lying
beneath the baulk. The individual graves were aligned east
- west and were arranged in closely set parallel rows running
north-south. The skeletons follow two slightly different
alignments, the earliest are eastnortheast-westsouthwest and
the later skeletons are more regular east-west. In addition,
quantities of charnel were recovered, some of which was
still articulated and had clearly been incorporated into the
graves of later interments. A single sherd of Early-Middle
Saxon pottery dating from the 6th or 7th century AD was
found in the backfill of one of the graves. This might suggest
that the cemetery dates from before the foundation of the
town.
Ultimately the cemetery went out of use to be succeeded by
evidence of occupation. Some of the graves were cut by pits
containing domestic debris dating from the 10th/11th
centuries to the 15th/16th centuries. A bone counter,
possibly a gaming piece, was recovered from one of the later
pits. It was carved from the jawbone of a cow, and probably
dates to the llth century. The terminus ante quem provided
by the material above the skeletons indicates that the
cemetery is probably of pre-conquest date. Certainly, by the
llth to 13th centuries AD, when some of the burials were
disturbed by the digging of later pits, this area was no longer
considered sacred ground.
The Medieval pits were sealed by a thick layer of garden soil
which in turn was cut by post-Medieval pits and wall
foundations.
Bedford, Castle Close (TL52809635)
Mark Philips and Drew Shotliff
Work by Eastern Electricity within the bounds of the
scheduled Bedford Castle motte and bailey gave rise to a
watching brief. The excavation of a cable trench running
25 m southwards from the southern side of the motte was
monitored. The trench was 0.6 m deep. Exposed but not
excavated in the base of the trench was 19th century
occupation debris. This was sealed by relatively sterile
imported subsoil, which appeared to represent levelling for
the present-day ornamental gardens.
Bedford, Cardington Road (TL065487)
Nick Shepherd
The proposal to build a bus lane on the north side of
Cardington Road led to an archaeological evaluation. Five
trenches were excavated parallel to the north edge of the
road with one located to investigate an area designated for
a balancing pond. A dispersed scatter of ditch and pit-type
features, largely undated, indicated activity within a 200 m
wide zone at the east end of the site. Two features contained
pottery of 1 ith/12th century date.
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