Early medieval Nun’s Hall (Ann’s Hall) or Conduit house, Nun's Wood, St Osyths Priory, Essex Assessment and Evaluation. (EHER 48153)

Nun’s Hall (Ann’s Hall), St Osyth's Priory, Essex. Archaeological Impact Assessment and Evaluation. It recorded a possible 14th century conduit house Nun's Wood, St Osyth Park. It is in ruins with only one wall surviving.

April 2010. Evaluation. In April 2010, Archaeological Solutions (AS) conducted an archaeological impact assessment and evaluation at Nun’s Hall (Ann’s Hall) and south-west paddock, St Osyth's Priory, Essex (TM 115 160) in advance of a planning application for enabling works at St Osyth's Priory Park. St Osyth's Priory is a Scheduled Monument (SAM 24 & EHER 4) and a Registered Park and Garden (EH 1145: Grade II). The area evaluated consists of two parts. Four trenches were located to the west of the Scheduled area near Priory Farm. Two trenches were located c.1km north-west of the Priory in Nun’s Wood, an area heavily quarried in the late 19th and 20th centuries. It is the reputed site of a nunnery founded in the late 7th century (EHER 46047). The ruined building in this part of the site was subject to an impact assessment. Tradition suggests that the structure is a residual fragment of a chapel, though judging by the surviving gable, the building is orientated north-south, which does not conform to the usual liturgical requirement for an east-west axis as would be expected on a religious site. Further analysis has suggested that it is a garden folly or picturesque ruin of more recent date. The current study identified no datable structural elements later than the 17th century, but the overall interpretation is that much of the structure as it currently exists is of 16th or 17th century date, with later repair using materials to hand. However, the hypothesis that the wall forms part of a much earlier and larger building was disproved during a trial trench evaluation (Trenches 5 & 6) which revealed no early structural remains. Instead the trenches in Nun’s Wood revealed an 18th – early 19th century brick building, possibly a conduit house, and a postmedieval gully (F1034). Trenches 1 – 4 revealed post-medieval, modern and undated features. Ditch F1004 contained a Roman sherd. The evidence is comparable to that recorded during the evaluation to the east (McCall et al 2008). <1> June to July 2022. Watching brief. The watching brief uncovered a small amount of evidence for the medieval and post-medieval activity in this section of the priory. The earliest evidence was a pit dating to the medieval to earl post-medieval period. The pit contained a large amount of animal bone from a variety of species. A pit, wall, and culvert all pertained to post-medieval activity at the priory. A 20th century ditch was also excavated. Finds were predominantly of animal bone and medieval to post-medieval CBM. <2> Information from the NRHE data transfer The site forms the remains of a Conduit House <3> Nun's Hall a ruin in Nun's Wood of flint and septaria with dressings of Limestone. The remaining fragment is the south gable end of a building probably of the 14th century. <4> One wall only remains 12ft. long, 10 ft. high and 18 ins. thick. See Ground Photograph. <5>