Monument record 0449103000 - MARLOW BREWERY SITE

Evaluation trial trenching and subsequent excavation by BCMAS in 1996 in advance of redevelopment of part of the former brewery, revealed evidence of continous activity from the 10th or 11th century to the present. A medieval beamslot and associated postholes, interpreted as the remains of a timber-framed building were found set back about 4m from the current street frontage, suggesting that the medieval road may have been even wider than at present and that there has been considerable frontage encroachment in the 18th or 19th century. To the rear of the building were a possible oven and a number of pit clusters, some used as domestic rubbish pits and cess pits, others possibly used as extraction pits or for other non-domestic purposes.
During the medieval and Tudor periods a garden soil developed over the southern part of the site. In the post-medieval period a chalk built cellar, later refaced in brick and flint, was constructed either within the existing medieval building or possibly associated with a 17th or 18th century replacement building, which was demolished in the 19th century and the debris used to in-fill the cellar. Two small chalk-lined storage pits to the rear were probably broadly contemporary with the cellar; one of the pits contained a deposit of matted straw suggesting use as a dung pit. Other post-medieval pits had been used for rubbish disposal: a large square cess pit contained horizontal branches or planking, whilst a large oval pit contained a large number of 17th ot 18th century wine bottles and wig-curlers. Two chalk-lined wells were also excavated, one of which may have replaced an earlier medieval well (B9-10).
See publication report for detail (B15).