DOI: 10.5284/1037313
title: Severn Street, Worcester, Worcestershire (OASIS IDs: wessexar1-181106 and wessexar1-220878)

description: Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by CgMs to undertake a programme of work as part of an ongoing scheme based at Severn Street. The Sites were centred at NGR 385215 254340 and 385140 254202. The scheme took place ahead of proposed housing development by Berkeley Homes. The work comprised an initial evaluation of two trenches (104660), followed by a watching brief (104661) on trenches associated with piling and the excavation of service trenches for the development. Finally there was an excavation (110320) on the site of the former Royal Porcelain Works. Prior to the current development the main part of site was used as a car park which occupied the location of the former church of St. Peter the Great. The original medieval church was demolished and replaced by a Victorian church, constructed in 1838 and demolished in 1976. The former medieval city wall was also found running across the development area. 104660 - Trench 1 contained the remains of a complex system of flooring installed in the church from 1838 onwards. Trench 2 uncovered the remains of the south wall of the church of 1838-1976. Graves and skeletons were recorded in Trench 2, including a truncated tomb or vault. It is likely that these are 19th or 20th century inhumations. Except for a few fragments of pottery, the finds, including the human bone, probably relate to the Victorian church. A watching brief was undertaken on six geotechnical pits within the car park and nine trial pits to locate existing utility services. Nothing of archaeological significance was identified. 104661 - Trenches 15, 40, 43, 45 and 56 identified sections of the medieval city wall. The sections formed a line on a northeast to southwest alignment parallel to the post-medieval 1815 Birmingham and Worcester Canal. With the exception of Trench 43, all recorded sections of the sandstone city wall had been reused as a foundation for a secondary post-medieval phase of construction in red brick. Trenches 15 and 17-20 identified structures associated with the medieval church and pre-cursor to the Victorian church of St. Peter the Great. Trenches 1-13, 13a, 14-22 and 56 identified structures associated with the Victorian church. These remains consisted of sandstone foundations, red-brick walls, as well as parts of a complex system of concrete flooring and vaults. Grave cuts, in situ 19th or 20th century inhumations and truncated brick vaults were recorded in various trenches. A total of five in situ inhumations were identified. Analysis of the charnel remains has identified a minimum of sixty-one further individuals. All human remains have been reburied on site as per the conditions of the Ministry of Justice burial license. Twenty gravestones/ledgerstones dated to the 18th and 19th century were recovered. Some were incorporated into the flooring or demolition layers of the Victorian church. The dates inscribed range from 1743 to 1821. A ledgestone associated with Robert Chamberlain Snr was recovered which may represent the entrance to a family crypt. Between 1786 and 1851 the Worcester porcelain factory was under the ownership of the Chamberlain family, with Robert .Chamberlain Snr owner between 1786 and 1798. 110320 - The archaeological excavation identified the poorly preserved remains of the kilns evident on the 1884 Ordnance Survey map. With the exception of concrete pads no upstanding structural remains associated with the kilns survive. All of the pads had suffered demolition damage prior to excavation and there was evidence for 20th century truncation across the excavation area. This is supported by cartographic evidence which shows the kilns had been removed by the early 1960s. A large quantity of 19th to 20th century ceramic material was uncovered, particularly from the eastern corner of the Site.