Monument Type(s):

• ROAD (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1901 AD)

Summary

This site represents: a road of medieval to post medieval date.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA4718 - 1999-2000 WB on Shrewsbury South Central (Phase 2) Water Mains Renewal by SCCAS
• ESA4719 - 1789 Cutting Back of High St/ Fish St Junction

Description

The High Street: Hobbs (1954) gives the earliest use as Haystrete, in 1300, a Haughmond Cartulary reference [<1>], possibly the charter of c.1293 granting a messuage and two shops (No. 1034 [<2>]). From other cartulary entries, eg. 'the street once called Gumbelestolestrete and now Haystrete' in 1300/1 (No. 1035 [<2>]) this appears to be about the time the street name was changing. Hobbs gives the derivation of Gumbestolestrete as a development from Gumstol or Gumble Stool, meaning a ducking stool, an example of which instrument was possessed by the town by 1292. The same name was applied to a pool (Gumbestolesmore) occupying the site of the Shirehall site peat deposit (see sites 60119, 60120 etc) [<3>]. The street was also known by other names, describing discrete sections of it: Bakers' Row was in c.1361 the name applied to the east end of the street [<4>]. ->

-> The street itself is now fairly wide and straight though in part this is a product of 18th and 19th-century widening (sites 60125, 60133[=EV SA4718]). It is essentially a cross-peninsula route, with topographical complications in terms of its relationship with the Pride Hill line, following the valley between the two areas of high ground, along the base of the gradient up to the north. On the south side it certainly skirted (i.e. its route was in part determined by) the Gumbestolesmore pool, and the 19th-century discovery of a row of piles along the south frontage, bordering the pool/peat deposit (sites 60121, 60200), seem to represent as was suggested in the 1880s-an attempt to retain the roadway and prevent sinkage into the unstable ground. Another civil engineering project probably associated with the improvement of the High Street and its properties, possibly in the 13th century, is the terrace wall bounding the rear of the north-side plots (PRN 62002, 62003). Given that the street carries the minster parish boundary between St Chad's and St Alkmund's/St Julian's, it seems probable that it was a landscape feature from an early pre-Conquest date, possibly developing from a prehistoric route between the fords: this was Chitty's view [<5>] <6>

The road line at the southeastern end of the High Street was cut back in the late 18th century. A watching brief on water main work in 1999-2000 revealed medieval and post-medieval structural remains under the modern street line at this point. Northwest of No 6 High Street, natural subsoil and the remains of a Victorian sewer were exposed <7>

<01> Hobbs J L, 1954, Street Names of Shrewsbury, p61-62 (Monograph). SSA365.

<02> Rees M U, 1985, The Cartulary of Haughmond Abbey, Nos 1034-1035 (Monograph). SSA10575.

<03> Hobbs J L, 1954, Street Names of Shrewsbury, p57 (Monograph). SSA365.

<04> Cromarty D, 1991, Everyday Life in Medieval Shrewsbury, p41 (Monograph). SSA10519.

<05> Chitty Lily F, 1951/ 1953, Prehistoric and Other Early Finds in the Borough of Shrewsbury, p138 (Article in serial). SSA390.

<06> Baker Nigel J, UAD Analysis, 13/03/1997 (SMR comment). SSA20432.

<07> Hannaford Hugh R, 2001, An Archaeological Watching Brief on the Shrewsbury South Central (Phase 2) Water Main Renewal, p6,7; Fig 1 (Watching brief report). SSA20431.

Sources

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.