Record Details

NHER Number:64068
Type of record:Monument
Name:Buried remains of Town Wall, 17 Littleport Street

Summary

This site lies in close proximity to the East Gate of the King's Lynn Town Defences, which was demolished at the start of the 19th century. A watching brief undertaken during the excavation of footings for a new boundary wall and works associated with road widening revealed a short section of the town wall. It is unclear whether the remains of the wall are medieval or whether they are a later repair. Dumped deposits overlying the remains of the wall suggest that at this location it had been taken down by the 18th century.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TF 6233 2038
Map Sheet:TF62SW
Parish:KING’S LYNN, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

Previously recorded under NHER 5486.

February-April 2012. Watching Brief.
Monitoring and recording confirmed the line of a section of the medieval town wall and identified deposits relating to its demolition. The wall was aligned approximately north-south and was constructed of roughly coursed flint cobbles, carstone and limestone. The remaining wall fragment was 2.5m long, 0.6m wide and stood to a height of just 0.15m. Either side of the wall were dumped demolition deposits comprising grey mortar with brick fragments and flint cobbles. This was overlain by a widespread dumped deposit of crushed grey mortar, flint cobbles and limestone fragments which also included a fragment of a 17th-18th century glass vessel, 18th-19th century pottery sherds and post-medieval brick.
It is unknown whether the section of wall revealed during these works was of medieval origin or a later repair. No evidence was revealed for the date when this section of the town wall was demolished but the dumped deposits overlying the remains of the wall suggest that this had taken place by the 18th century.
See report (S1) for details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S2).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2013.92).
E. Bales (HES), 27 August 2012. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 16 May 2019.

It seems possible that the demolition of this section of Town Wall may have coincided with the construction of 17 Littleport Street (NHER 46577) on this plot, which dates from the early 18th century. Looking at the shape of the plot it seems likely that this section of wall was removed in order to enlarge the garden to the east of the property. The line of Littleport Street appears straight on Rastrick's map of 1725 (S3), and it is possible that the curvature of the road at this location also relates to the demolition of this section of the wall.
A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 12 March 2020.

Monument Types

  • TOWN WALL (Medieval to 17th Century - 1266 AD? to 1700 AD?)

Associated Finds

  • BRICK (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
  • POT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
  • TILE (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
  • VESSEL (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

<S1>Unpublished Contractor Report: Cope-Faulkner, P. 2012. Archaeological Monitoring and Recording at 17 Littleport Street, King's Lynn, Norfolk. Archaeological Project Services. 35/12.
<S2>Article in Serial: Cattermole, A. 2013. Excavations and Surveys in Norfolk in 2012. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XLVI Pt IV pp 568-576. pp 571-572.
<S3>Map: Rastrick, G.. 1725. Ichnographia Burgi perantiqui Lennae Regis in Agro Norfolciensi accurate delineata.

Related records

5486Part of: King's Lynn Town Defences (Monument)
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