Remains of medieval timber buildings and possible cistern, 143-147 High Street (EHER 47219)

Trial trenching and archaeological excavation recorded the remains of a three-roomed timber structure from the 12th century, which appeared to be replaced with a similar structure in the 13th-14th century. Among the more interesting finds on this site was a wooden barrel with the ends removed which was interpreted as probably a cistern, perhaps for use in an industrial process. Post holes and gullies probably demarcated the High Street plots.

July-August 2008. Trial trenching and archaeological excavation. The site is in a part of Maldon which had become built up in the medieval period. The site was certainly occupied during this time by a sequence of structures, but it is not clear what plan-form they took. In the early medieval period (12th century), slots appear to have defined a three-roomed structure, but one which does not resemble the floor-plan of a typical medieval hall-house, unless the three rooms represent the screens passage and service wing, with a missing (truncated) hall to the north. In the medieval period (13th-14th centuries), the earlier timber structure was replaced by another timber structure with a line of features apparently defining a fence-line to the rear. Again, the floor-plan is not clear. The slots may have been for a structure, the corners of which would not have been square, or an 'L-shaped' slot may have surrounded a structure of which nothing survives except the pair of post-holes. Despite the difficulties in interpreting building plans, the range of animal bones, pottery and small finds from these periods (including a buckle-plate, part of a Norwegian ragstone hone, the Mayen lava quern, the fragment from the superstructure of an oven or kiln, and the spindle whorl), indicate that a wide range of domestic activities took place here, and, in the case of the mercury droplets, perhaps commercial activities as well. Among the more interesting finds on this site was a wooden barrel with the ends removed. This was set into a pit and was packed around with a clean silty grey clay which contained no finds. Two wooden posts had been driven into the clay. The two posts had no obvious purpose unless they were part of a superstructure above the barrel, possibly a cistern. The absence of drains leading to this feature appears to rule out use as a sump, and the fact that it was set in impermeable clay means that it is very unlikely to have been a well. A use as a cistern, perhaps associated with some industrial process, can be postulated. Although the example here is unlikely to be a well, it is of interest that a barrel re-used as a well is known from the Post Office site in Maldon High Street (see EHER 14397). Although found by accident on a building site and not professionally excavated, the authors of the report on the discovery describe this as a barrel-lined well which was used in its final phases as a cess-pit. Associated pottery dated it to probably the 13th century, which is slightly earlier than the example here. The mismatch between buildings and site finds is even more marked in the late medieval/early post-medieval period (15th-16th centuries), when, apart from two patches of gravel, the structure is archaeologically almost invisible. Yet, as in the earlier medieval periods, the range of associated finds point to occupation on site. This is particularly so with the leather off-cuts from the barrel, possibly dumped from an adjacent cobbler's workshop. The position of gullies and rows of post-holes may indicate that the modern plot boundaries date back to at least the 15th or 16th century. <1> Of the greatest interest was the discovery of a few droplets of mercury in a layer which also contained 11th-century pottery. It would be unwise to entirely exclude the possibility that the mercury has seeped down from above, but, on the basis of the excavated stratigraphy, there seems a strong probability that it is a genuine medieval find. If so, it is a reasonable assumption that the mercury was used in an industrial process on this site. Two industries which used mercury were gold-smithing and millinery (hat making), but there is no other evidence that either of these trades was actually carried out here. <2>