The Excavation
Structure 1 was demolished LUB 4; the later 3rd- to 4th-century pottery was probably residual, from the
8. Mint Wall Stables 1983 (mws83)
Introduction
A small scale excavation took place at the Mint Wall Stables in September 1983 (Fig 8.1). Two weeks’
excavation were carried out with the hope of learning more about the civic basilica, as the site lay to the south-east of the surviving section of the Mint Wall.
The site was mostly occupied by stables and it was proposed to repair these and convert them into an annexe to the Castle Hotel (formerly North District School). Brian Gilmour and Douglas Young directed the excavation on behalf of the Lincoln Archaeo-logical Trust, with funding from the Department of the Environment.
Trenches B and C were in the yard to the east of the southern part of the stable block, while Trench A lay inside the north end of the stable block itself.
Excavations in Trench B were restricted by a modern pipe running across the trench. An interim report was published (Gilmour and Jones 1984).
A total of 35 contexts was recognised on site;
these are interpreted as sixteen context groups, cg1–
19 (not including cg5, cg12 and cg13) and examined in nine land use blocks (LUB 1–9; Figs 8.3 and 8.15).
Trench A included Late Medieval LUBs 4 and 5, and Post-Medieval LUBs 6 and 7 – modern stratigraphy was not recorded; Trench C contained Roman LUB 1, Late Roman to Medieval LUBs 2 and 3, Late Post-Medieval LUBs 8 and 9 and modern LUB 10; Trench B only produced modern LUB 10 (Figs 8.2 and 8.3).
A few residual Roman pottery sherds (11 sherds) were recovered, together with a group of 362 post-Roman pottery sherds. Only sixteen registered finds were recovered; most were of heavily corroded metalwork, principally iron (50%) and a few of copper alloy. Two coins (one of silver: Archibald 1995) were also found, but there were very few finds in other materials such as bone (Rackham 1994), ivory and glass. No organic materials were recovered. The small group of building materials
(77 fragments) consisted mostly of medieval/post medieval ceramic tile but also included some stone (stone building material: Roe 1995). The animal bone assemblage (126 fragments) was not considered significant enough to warrant further examination.
Fig 8.1 Site location plan for mws83
122 Mint Wall Stables 1983 (mws83)
Post-excavation stratigraphic analysis was under-taken initially by Prince Chitwood, and later by Kate Steane. Margaret J Darling worked on the Roman pottery; Jane Young examined the post-Roman pottery. Jen Mann analysed the registered finds and Roman building materials, and Rick Kemp the medieval building materials. Helen Palmer Brown and Zoe Rawlings digitized the plans.
The Excavation
Roman
In Trench B there were traces of a building LUB 1 with a possible opus signinum floor (Structure 1);
the distinctive character of the floor dates the structure to the Roman period.
LUB 1 Structure 1 (Figs 8.4, 8.9 and 8.11)
At the limit of excavation the robbed remains of an east–west wall cg1 (Trench C) were recovered together with a small area (1.10 x 1.20m) of opus signinum floor cg9, of very substantial thickness, to the south of the wall at 65.87m OD (Fig 8.11). The wall had been so heavily robbed that only traces of the foundations remained, measuring over 0.75m wide. Not only had the foundations been robbed, but the floor cg9 had been hacked away from around the foundations, so that the junction of the wall and floor was missing. The surviving surface of the floor was well worn and patchy. There was no dating evidence associated either with the floor Fig 8.2 Plan showing areas and sections for mws83
Fig 8.3 LUB diagram for mws83
123 Mint Wall Stables 1983 (mws83)
LUB 4 Kiln (Figs 8.5, 8.10 and 8.12)
At the limit of excavation in Trench A was a kiln cg3, carefully constructed with blocks of limestone (Fig 8.10). The floor of the kiln was made up of cobbles and pitched roofing tile sealed by mortar which had been reddened from intense and pro-longed burning. The walls of the kiln had been constructed with blocks of limestone set on the underlying cobbles. It was aligned west to east, with the flue to the west. The drying chamber walls, which survived to a depth of 1.10m, were battered outwards from the floor, at an angle of 70 degrees.
This inclination reduced the uppermost surviving dimensions along one side from at least 2.20m to c 1.10m at floor level. A narrow flue led from the drying chamber to the stoke-hole (which was not excavated). The drying floor (which may have consisted of a wooden frame overlaid with a horse-hair cloth, or perhaps green branches) would have wedged into the battered kiln, at a level over the flue. The kiln was probably used for malting. The only dating material came from its fill (LUB 5) which belonged to the late 15th century.
LUB 5 Backfill of the kiln (Figs 8.6 and 8.13)
The kiln cg3 (LUB 4; Trench A) was back-filled with sandy loam and clay cg4. Sealing the dumps within the kiln were two east–west walls cg15 (Fig 8.13); the walls were unmortared and roughly built.
They were sealed by a dump of loam cg16.
Although the backfill, walls, and sealing dumps indicate three different stratigraphic events, the pottery analysis showed that there are multiple cross-joins in the pottery between the fills cg4 of the stoke-hole and oven and the material from the walls cg15 and dump cg16, indicating that the fills originated from the same source. A possible explanation is that the kiln went through a stage of being reconstructed. Perhaps it was partially backfilled cg4, and walls cg15 were constructed to Fig 8.4 Structure 1, the robbed wall and opus signinum
floor: LUB 1
or the wall, but the description of the floor as opus signinum confirms a Roman date.
Late Roman to medieval
Dumps of building material LUB 2 sealed the floor.
Structure 1, in Trench C, was robbed LUB 3. There was a lack of dating evidence, but as the structure is considered to be Roman, then it would seem likely that its demolition and robbing took place either in the Late Roman or Early Medieval period.
LUB 2 Dumps (Fig 8.9)
Over the floor cg9 (LUB 1) there was a layer of fine dark brown sandy silt cg10 (0.10m thick). Sealing the silt cg10 was a thick layer of building debris consisting almost entirely of large limestone blocks and much tile cg2. There was no dating evidence.
LUB 3 Robbing (Fig 8.9)
Cutting through the demolition material cg2 was a robber trench cg11 removing stone from the east–
west wall cg1 (LUB 1). There was no dating evidence.
Late Medieval
A structure likely to be a malting kiln LUB 4 was found in Trench A. It was partially modified before backfilling LUB 5. The pottery from the backfill was late 15th-century in date.
Fig 8.5 Malting kiln: LUB 4
124 Mint Wall Stables 1983 (mws83)
constrict the area of the kiln, while respecting the flue, with a view to possible re-use within a more restricted area. However, this process seems to have been interrupted and the altered kiln never completed – and instead the kiln was backfilled with similar material as the earlier fill.
The pottery (117 post-Roman sherds) consists almost entirely of contemporary vessels dating to the last quarter of the 15th century. The backfill cg4 also contained a very corroded and worn silver coin;
such little detail as survives on this, together with the fact that it had been severely clipped, suggest it to be a penny of c 1300 clipped to prolong its circulation into the 15th century (Archibald 1995), thus according well with the associated pottery.
Post Medieval
In Trench A the backfill of the kiln was cut by a soakaway LUB 6; the bricks from this feature dated to between the mid/late 17th to the early 18th century. Possibly contemporary were the remains of a building, Structure 2 LUB 7.
LUB 6 Spread cut by soakaway (Fig 8.7)
Sealing the backfill of the kiln cg16 (LUB 5; Trench A) was a thin spread cg18 cut by a pit which was used to build a brick soakaway or sump cg7. This feature was eventually backfilled cg17.
Pottery from dump cg18 (9 post-Roman sherds) dated to between the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The brick recovered from the fill cg17 of the soakaway/sump cg7 was probably tumble from the actual lining; from the sizes of brick recorded in situ, a probable date of mid- to late-17th to early 18th century is reasonable.
LUB 7 Structure 2 (Fig 8.7)
In Trench A there were traces of a north–south wall cg19 with a return to the east; the wall sealed cg18
Fig 8.6 East–west walls cg15 within malting kiln:
LUB 5
(LUB 6). The wall’s foundations appear to be about 0.25m across. It may represent the south-west corner of a building.
Late Post-Medieval
In Trench C was a lime-burning pit LUB 8; its fill LUB 9 contained 18th-century pottery.
LUB 8 Lime-burning pit (Figs 8.8, 8.9 and 8.14) In Trench C the robber trench cg11 (LUB 3) was cut by a trench to construct a large pit cg6, only part of which was excavated (Fig 8.14). This pit was lined in parts with limestone, and part had roughly mortared sides. The stones on the side of the pit and also the mortar had been heavily burnt; the backfill of the pit cg14 (LUB 9) contained lime.
The limestone mortared sides may have been the remains of the support for a dome beneath which the fire would be lit, with the charge above.
As noted below (LUB 9), its fill contained 18th- to 19th-century pottery.
LUB 9 Back-fill of pit (Fig 8.9)
The lime-burning pit (LUB 8; Trench C) was back-filled with loam dumps cg14. A large group of pottery was recovered from the backfill (188 post-Roman sherds). The latest pottery dated to the 18th and 19th centuries, and included a large number of badly burnt and fused sherds possibly introduced into the pit while it was still in use. There were also clay tobacco pipes of late 18th or early 19th century date.
Modern
In Trenches B and C was clay levelling for the stable yard LUB 10.
LUB 10 Stable yard (Fig 8.9)
Over dump cg14 (LUB 9) in Trench C was compact clay cg8, a levelling dump for the stable yard (also Fig 8.7 Soakaway and Structure 2: LUBs 6 and 7
125 Mint Wall Stables 1983 (mws83)
seen in Trench B). Clay cg8 contained predomin-antly post-medieval pottery of 18th- to 19th-century date.
Discussion
Part of the basilica structure?
Wall cg1 (LUB 1; Fig 8.11) in the north part of Trench C, probably represents the robbed remains
of an east–west wall (same as cg3, LUB 2 mw79).
The floor cg9 (65.87m OD) occurred at around the same level as that found to the west in 1979 (mw79 LUB 2, cg21), at 65.94m OD. Both floors were recorded as being very worn.
It would seem probable that the structure of which the wall cg1 (LUB 1) was part belonged to the civic basilica, the north wall of which survives as the Mint Wall (see LUB 6, wb80). It was hoped to confirm the line of this wall within Trench A, but any traces had been removed by the construction of the malt kiln (LUB 4; Fig 8.12) in the late medieval period and the kiln became the limit of excavation in Trench A.
There was no dating evidence for this building from this site; however, the construction of the Mint Wall (LUB 6, wb80) was thought to have been completed in the early 3rd century.
Malt-drying kiln
The malt-drying kiln cg3 (LUB 4; Figs 8.10, 8.12–
13) was located about 35m to the west of Bailgate, to the rear of 29 Bailgate. It was built before the late 15th century, and was associated with a late medieval property fronting on to Bailgate.
The malting kiln cg3 (LUB 4) is similar to other kilns found in the East Midlands. All had a recti-linear-walled drying chamber, with a stoke-hole to one side (here only the flue was excavated, not the stoke-hole). Others have been found in Lincoln at West Parade (Jones (ed) 1999, 199–201), and at Flaxengate (Jones R H, 1980, 37–9) to name but two.
Both were keyhole-shaped, and of high to late medieval date. One in Stamford dated to the 13th or 14th century (Mahany et al 1982, 19–21) and another in Northampton was filled in sometime in the 15th century (Williams 1979, 97); the Nor-thampton kiln contained evidence of charred grain (wheat, barley and oats).
Fig 8.8 Lime-burning pit: LUB 8
Fig 8.9 Section from south to north, along the west side of Trench C
Fig 8.10 Section from north to south, along the east side of Trench A
126 Mint Wall Stables 1983 (mws83) The group of pottery from the backfill of the kiln
(LUB 5) consists almost entirely of contemporary vessels dating to the last quarter of the 15th century.
It is one of the few assemblages in the city that show that there is a period when LSW3 has fallen out of use before the demise of LLSW. It also confirms the late use of POTT and the introduction of CIST before the 16th century. At least ten of the LLSW jugs have internal white deposits and several are also sooted possibly indicating their use for storing and heating water. Most of the POTT cooking pots are sooted both internally and externally or have carbonised internal deposits as do some of the LLSW jugs. One LLSW sherd shows possible traces of madder. Only one vessel shows traces of decoration and this consists of applied strips with circular grid stamping.
Three small CIST cups come from the loam dump cg16. A near complete drinking jug in LLSW was found on the floor of the kiln in the lowest fill of the oven. Two unusual occurrences were a sherd of middle Saxon MAX and the rim of a SIEG Jacoba-kanne which may have survived in use until its deposition in the kiln.
Soakaway and Structure 2
The soakaway (LUB 6) was probably inserted in the 17th or 18th century. It seems likely that the location of the malt kiln was apparent, as the soakaway was located centrally within it. Just to the east of the soakaway were the foundations for Structure 2, probably the remains of a shed or outhouse. The soakaway contained further disturbed material from this group, as evidenced by conjoining sherds back to the kiln fills.
Fig 8.12 Looking east at kiln cg3, showing flue: LUB 4
Fig 8.11 Looking north at floor cg9 with robbed wall cg1 behind: LUB 1
Lime pit
Although its north wall to the west survives to this day, the rest of the substantial Roman structure (LUB 1) has been demolished. At the location of these excavations there is no dating evidence to indicate when the wall went down; but it is clear that here (Trench A), the wall was thoroughly robbed. The final robbing of the foundations may have occurred in the late post-medieval period as part of the preparation for lime burning (LUB 8;
Fig 8.14). This lime-burning activity was probably
127 Mint Wall Stables 1983 (mws83)
Fig 8.13 Looking south-west at the partially backfilled kiln cg3, with stones cg15: LUB 5
Fig 8.14 Looking east at stone lining of pit cg6: LUB 8
accessed from Westgate, rather than from Bailgate, and may have been related to the demand for mortar as the town was being redeveloped.
The presence of a number of LLSW vessels in the mixed group of pottery from loam dump cg14 (LUB 9) may suggest that the infilling of the kiln was part of a more widespread activity in the area during the late 15th century.
cg/LUB 1/1 2/2 3/4 4/5 5/–
6/8 7/7 8/10 9/1 10/2
cg/LUB 11/3 12/–
13/–
14/9 15/5 16/5 17/6 18/6 19/7
Fig 8.15 Concordance of cg numbers with LUB numbers for mws83
128 Mint Wall Stables 1983 (mws83) Stables
By 1983, the site was mostly occupied by a building range with its gable end fronting on to Westgate. It had been formerly used as stables with a granary above, but had lain derelict for many years. Trench A was located within the stable building, and
Trenches B and C within the yard to the east. At some time before the 19th century the area im-mediately around Trench A may have ceased to belong to the property of 29 Bailgate, and became part of one fronting on to Westgate.
129 St Paul-in-the-Bail (sp72 and sp84)