Event/Activity EPM227 - Archaeological Watching Brief Premier Inn, Queen Street

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology between the 12th and 20th December 2017 during groundworks associated with the development of a new Premier Inn in Queen Street. The site was bounded by Queen Street to the north, Havant Street to the east, Wickham Street to the west and Old Star to the south. Several buildings previously occupying areas of the site were demolished prior to the work taking place. These included a narrow three-storey townhouse on the corner of Queen Street and Havant Street (most recently The Camden public house) and a group of later-20th century two and three-storey buildings in the western part of the site (formerly Norreys Ltd). Archaeological monitoring took place on groundworks comprising the removal of modern concrete structural footings and the turnover of deposits, to a maximum depth of approximately 2m below street level across the entire footprint of the site. Natural geological substrate was encountered between 0.5m and 2m below ground level in patches across the site. This was overlain in occasional areas across the site by a possible buried soil approximately 0.15m thick. The work revealed evidence of post-medieval activity, including an 18th-19th century occupation deposit, the remains of several 19th century cellars, and rubble and demolition material relating to Second World War bombing. It was thought that due to the depth and extent of cellar and structural footing excavations, any archaeological features pre-dating the post medieval period were unlikely to survive. 2017/79