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Summary

A number of domestic and small-scale industrial pits, recorded during archaeological evaluations at 5-7 Market Place, in 2007 and 2013.

Monument Types

• PIT (MED/PM, Medieval to Post Medieval - 1250 AD to 1799 AD)
• POST HOLE (MED/PM, Medieval to Post Medieval - 1450 AD? to 1800 AD)
• WALL (MED/PM, Medieval to Post Medieval - 1450 AD? to 1600 AD?)

Protected Status - None

Associated Finds

• POTTERY ASSEMBLAGE (Early Medieval/Dark Age to Post Medieval - 975 AD to 1900 AD)
• ANIMAL REMAINS (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1250 AD? to 1800 AD?)
• SHERD (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1250 AD to 1799 AD)
• ANIMAL REMAINS (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1400 AD to 1900 AD)
• PLANT MACRO REMAINS (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• SLAG (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• PIPE (SMOKING) (Post Medieval - 1660 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Events

• Archaeological trial trench, former Smith Parkinson building (Ref: SPBB 07)
• Trial Trench evaluation, 5-7 Market Place Brigg (Ref: BMPE 13)

Full description

An archaeological watching brief, combined with a single trench evaluation, was carried out during the construction of new offices to the rear of the former Smith Parkinson garage at 5-6 Market Place, 2007.

The evaluation trench was at the northern end of the new building. A small number of domestic and small-scale industrial pits dating to the medieval and post-medieval periods were recorded.

Cutting into naturally laminated sand were several pits. One was a possible root bowl, and contained no dating evidence. The largest pit, continued beyond the edge of the evaluation trench; its sides indicated weathering during the time that it was open. A second pit had been cut into its earliest fill. This pit contained two fills, separated by a 0.2m deposit of plaster. The third pit cut into the upper fill of the second.

The latest feature, in the east end of the trench, was a pit directly beneath the post-medieval topsoil.

3 further pits were recorded in the foundations of the new building. One was 1.02m deep, was cut into a disturbed land surface, and was found to contain two fills. The primary fill may have been cess. A smashed Beverley ware-type conical jug with applied strip and pellet decoration was found in this fill. The vessel dated to between 1230 and 1350, and showed signs of post-depositional abrasion and some of the vessel was missing, suggesting that it was re-deposited in this fill.

Another pit was cut into the same disturbed land surface as the first. There was no dating evidence. A third pit was 0.86m deep. It had a primary fill of possible cess-type material, and an upper fill of ash and burnt clay.

Post-medieval pottery, of 16th to mid 18th century date, was also retrieved from the fills of three of these pits, as well as from an upper levelling layer that was found across the entire southern part of the site.

A small quantity of animal bone was also found in the pit features. Some fragments showed signs of butchery. Gnawing marks could also suggest scavenging by dogs while the pits were still open.

The location of the pits suggested that they had been in the rear yards of properties that were levelled prior to major changes during the 18th and 19th centuries, when terraced housing was built in this area. [1]

Three further evaluation trenches were excavated by the same team from Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd, February 2013. Designated Trench 1, 2 and 4, they revealed further medieval and post-medieval remains, similar to those found in 2007.

Trench 1 was located at the northern end of the site, and was orientated E-W. One of the earliest features was a substantial north-south linear ditch, cutting into redeposited natural sand. It was 3.2m wide, with sloping sides and a gradually sloping base. The fill was a silty sand that contained no finds.

This ditch was cut by a series of 6 pits and postholes that contained pottery dating from the late 16th to the 19th century. The fill of the largest pit contained slag, post-medieval pottery and clay pipe, including a complete pipe bowl of 1830-1850.

A series of 2 postholes and a pit were younger than the first series; the only dating was 19th century pottery and clay pipe from the pit feature. To the west of the large ditch was a large, deep pit that contained rubble, coal and 19th century pottery.

On the eastern side of the trench was a compacted deposit, interpreted as a possible surface. Embedded pottery and tile dated it to the late 18th - early 19th century. This was cut by 2 small pits and a stakehole. This stakehole was linked to 2 other previously recorded postholes, and perhaps marked a 19th century fence or boundary marker.

All Trench 1 features were sealed by two layers of made ground, successively 0.3m deep and 0.2m deep.

Trench 2 was located at the north-eastern corner of the site, and orientated WNW-ESE. Lying above natural sand was a silty sand layer containing 15th-16th century pottery. Elsewhere in the trench, an equivalent layer was thought to be a buried soil. This was sealed by a shallow layer of yellow mortar, probably a former surface.

Two pit features cut into the buried soil. One was deep pit and contained 18th-19th century pottery, and dog bones. The other was a large circular pit with no dating evidence. All these earlier layers and pits were sealed by 0.5m of sandy silt, containing pot-medieval and later pottery, also 19th century clay pipe fragments. Some 20th century features and layers were also recorded in Trench 2.

Trench 4 was in the centre of the site, orientated NNW-SSE. It contained the highest concentration of features from this evaluation.

The earliest feature in the trench was a limestone wall footing. It was unbonded and roughly built, running E-W. Its foundations were cut by a post-medieval pit, so this may have been a late medieval structure. A number of small,
15th-16th-century postholes with similar limestone packing as the wall were identified to the south of the wall, at the south-western end of the trench.

A silty soil, 0.4m deep, extended across most of the trench and was also early. It was cut by 3 later phases of postholes and refuse pits. Two of these pits contained 11th - 13th century pottery; another incorporated an even earlier redeposited sherd dated to 975-1100 AD. These finds were good evidence of earlier medieval activity in the vicinity, and appear to indicate a settlement presence before the late 12th century foundation of the town.

A complex sequence of mid 16th -17th century pits was recorded to the north of the limestone wall, in the centre of the trench. One pit was found to contain four fills. There was no dating evidence, but environmental samples produced evidence of charred barley and other domestic debris. It was cut by a larger waste pit of the mid 16th-17th century, with a fill incorporating horse bones. Another pit contained a complete clay pipe bowl of c. 1660 - 1680, along with iron-working waste material.

The latest features in Trench 4 were a 18th-19th-century linear feature, and a modern brick wall foundation. [2]

<1> Lane, A., 2012, Archaeological Watching Brief and Evaluation Report, Site of the Former Smith Parkinson Building, 5-6 Market Place, Brigg, North Lincolnshire, 4-6, Appendix 3 (REPORT - INTERIM, RESEARCH, SPECIALIST, ETC). SLS6290.

<2> Lane, A., 2013, Brigg Market Place update, 2, 5-9 (REPORT - INTERIM, RESEARCH, SPECIALIST, ETC). SLS6488.

<3> Francis, K. D., 2013, Archaeological Evaluation Report:Land to the Rear of Nos. 5-7 Market Place, Brigg, North Lincolnshire, 2, 5-9 (REPORT - INTERIM, RESEARCH, SPECIALIST, ETC). SLS6459.

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