The Maltings, Eastern Lane, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland: post-excavation summary

A single trench was excavated to the front of the Maltings building in advance of redevelopment of the leisure complex and addition of a new theatre. The work was commissioned to check for the continuation of medieval archaeological horizons identified and recorded in a previous phase of trial-trenching conducted as part of the development in 2023. A single trench measuring 20m x 6m was proposed, directly in front of the Maltings building to explore a possible archaeological horizon encountered at a depth of 2m bgl in a previous evaluation at the site, but which was unable to be excavated due to depth constrictions. Excavation of the trench revealed substantial loose, made ground deposits associated with the Maltings building that made the north-western half unsafe for excavation. The south-eastern half fared better and despite a limited footprint of 6m by 5m, revealed medieval archaeological horizons preserved at a minimum depth of 1.8m bgl which were able to be excavated by hand and by machine to record stratified remains that included large rubbish pits and the foundation of a large sandstone wall foundation.