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Somerset Historic Environment Record

15543

Site Name:	Excavation (1988), Clares Carlton, Wells
Civil Parish:	Wells
Part of:	PRN 24802 Bishop's Palace Mill, Wells
	PRN 24810 Medieval town, Wells
Grid Ref:	ST 5509 4569 (ST 54 NE)
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Image:
	HER 15543 - Photo by Somerset County Council (08 December 1988)

Public access:

It is unlikely that there is anything to see unless this event took place on a site (see link above) where there may be details of access. Otherwise please assume that the site is on private land. [Information last updated on 21 May 2003]

Details:

Following a previous evaluation of the former Clares Carlton premises in 1987 (PRN 25613) further work was undertaken by Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit on behalf of the new owners, Secure Retirement plc, in November and December 1988.

The removal of public conveniences and the small car park at the eastern extremity of the site and adjacent to the Palace moat allowed the completion of the earlier work. Two mechanically-excavated trenches, aligned approximately N-S, linked one of the earlier evaluation trenches (VI) with a larger area which was opened at the north end of the site (VII). This was designed to investigate any surviving remains of the Palace mill (PRN 24802), and excavation by hand continued here for a further three week period.

No direct evidence of the mill structure was found, but a clearer picture of later medieval and post-medieval arrangements in its immediate vicinity was obtained. The later silts and waterlogged deposits recorded in the infilled, naturally-formed shallow valley of the St Andrew's stream were banked against a substantial clay and gravel rampart to the east (probably the upcast from the Palace moat), which formed a dam for the moat across the valley here. Some clay silts containing earlier medieval finds continued beneath the bank but were barely investigated. Part of a massive, mortared stone wall foundation continuing south-westwards from the bank may originally have formed a revetment of its western face. It may have continued northwards, but was subsequently destroyed. If this interpretation is correct, a turn of the wall to the south west would have deflected the water which was flowing southwards from the mill wheel race outlet, westwards down the valley - its original course before the Palace and moat were laid out in the C13. Alternatively, this wall segment relates to some earlier medieval arrangement, possibly connected to an earlier phase of the mill.

The subsequent history of the area involved progressive infilling of the water- course flowing south from the mill and then westwards down the valley. These arrangements are clearly depicted on Simes' 1735 map of Wells. The infill deposits contained a considerable assemblage of late and post-medieval finds, including pottery, tile, waterlogged wood and leather, animal bone and metalwork. By the end of the C18 this process was accelerated by the erection of a small stone-founded building which partly overlay the earlier silts, and which contained evidence of some small-scale industrial process.

The destruction and redevelopment of the mill site immediately to the north in or soon after 1835, was echoed here by levelling off the C18 building. An extensive dumped deposit of clay and gravel (primarily of natural origin) was used to level up the area formerly occupied by watercourses. The latter were rationalised into two westward flowing conduits. One was for St Andrew's stream which took the main flow of water directly from the Palace moat via a sluice (still functioning), and was cut through the medieval bank of the moat dam. A second conduit to the south still carries a slight flow, following the course of an originally open channel westwards, but it does not seem to be connected directly to an outflow from the moat. From the information recorded here, the site and any remains of the Palace mill (PRN 24802) must lie immediately to the north of the new development, almost certainly beneath No. 2 Town Hall Buildings. {1}

References:

Record created on 15 July 2002

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