Building record 0182701000 - Courtyard, KINGS HEAD, MARKET SQUARE

Dimensions - Width 0014 Length 0020 m
Plan Form - RECTANGULAR
ORIGINAL PLAN OF KING'S HEAD CONSISTED OF 4 RANGES ENCLOSING A LARGE COURTYARD (B3).
Building survey of the whole complex suggests that buildings were constructed piecemeal during the 15th and 16th centuries following consolidation of 4 adjacent medieval tenements in 1455 (B9).
Detailed recording, archaeological investigations and watching briefs by BCMAS carried out in the courtyard in summer 1994 in advance of service trenching identified 3 phases of courtyard surface, 2 phases of medieval activity pre-dating the construction of the King's Head, traces of a late medieval building and possible boundary wall, an 11th -12th century dark soil deposit and residual finds of Iron Age pottery. A possible Tudor timber-framed structure predating the construction of the courtyard had been destroyed by fire prior to the 16th century and may have been one of the earliest buildings associated with the King's Head complex. A number of postholes and evidence of construction debris were thought to have been associated with the construction of buildings in the late 15th and 16th centuries, and a rubbly-clay yard surface dated to the 16th century was suggested to be contemporary with the formation of the courtyard by the construction of the surrounding ranges. This surface was replaced by a more substantial surface of rammed limestone probably by the end of the 16th century (B10-11,13).