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Discovering the history beneath our feet
Work is coming to an end on a major archaeological dig in Redcliffe before the area undergoes a multi-million pound redevelopment to revive the 2.5-acre site.
Works began earlier this year on an area fronting Redcliff Street, with a team from Cotswold Archaeology revealing the extent of two medieval plots extending from the Redcliff Street frontage back into what would have been rear gardens bounded by a large communal ditch, known as the ‘law ditch’.
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The law ditch defined the legal boundary between properties along Redcliff Street to the west and St Thomas Street to the east, and was probably established in the 12th-century.
The earliest medieval buildings would have been located partially beyond the site, under Redcliff Street to the west. However, some of the rear part of the original medieval buildings survived within the excavation area.
As the site was redeveloped many times over the following centuries, the later walls still generally followed the original property boundaries laid out in the 12th-century.
Within the ditch were extensive waterlogged remains, including worked wood and leather objects including shoes. To the western edge of the gardens, nearer the original properties were a number of intercutting pits likely to have been domestic waste pits. These contain large quantities of pottery, bone, metal objects, including knives and an early medieval token.
Historic images of the pre-war St Thomas Street frontage (below) show a series of timber-framed buildings of 17th-century date with gable ends fronting St Thomas Street, but these were destroyed by enemy action during the war.
Excavations have so far suggested that any trace of the footings or floors of these buildings has been completely removed, revealing the earlier buildings on a different alignment.
If the earlier buildings had fronted onto St Thomas Street the cess-pit would have been in the front garden! Interestingly, the scars left by removal of these narrow earlier buildings and their floors can be seen on the wall of the adjacent Wool Hall building (now The Fleece) just to the north of the site.
16th-century maps of the area also seem to show that buildings ran parallel to St Thomas Street and fronted Thomas Lane before reorientation when the new buildings seen in the historic painting above were constructed probably in the 17th-century.
Excavations can still be viewed from St Thomas Street. For more information, visit www.cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk/redcliff-quarter-phase-1
Read more: Plans submitted for Redcliff Quarter