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Archaeologists at Sansome Street, Worcester

  • 14th June 2018

A couple of our archaeologists have been down at the Hanbao/former Toby Tavern site, Sansome Street, Worcester, over the past couple of weeks. It’s attracted a lot of interest. Work is still in progress; here’s a brief summary of what we’ve found so far.

This site is just outside the Foregate and in a medieval suburb which lay outside the city walls. The suburbs were destroyed during the Civil War and new defences built, especially around the gates. Both in the medieval period and later, the suburbs were the location for industries, including tilemaking, metalworking and tanning.

“An archaeological watching brief is underway during groundworks for the new construction, to ensure that archaeological remains are recorded and that significant archaeological remains are identified and preserved.”

– James Dinn, Archaeological Officer, Worcester City Council

Laura Griffin, one of our Senior Finds Archaeologists, has had a preliminary look at some of the finds. “It appears to be the wall of a tile kiln of late medieval to early post-medieval date. This is one of a number of tile kilns known in the Sansome Street/Lowesmoor area, identified both from documentary evidence and as a result of archaeological works. Tiling was an important industry in medieval and early post-medieval Worcester, with kilns producing large quantities of both roof and floor tiles.”

Upon completion, we’ll be writing it up as an archaeological report to be added to the Worcester City Historical Environment Record so the results will be available for future archaeologists and historians.

One response to “Archaeologists at Sansome Street, Worcester”

  1. rita roberts says:

    Sounds Interesting I shall look forward to hearing more of this site. Thanks for sharing. Please say hello to James Dinn for me.

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