Norwich's Saxon Sprawl
Tony Aldous on the recent work of the Norfolk Archaeological Unit
It isn't every day that archaeologists are called upon to excavate six acres in the middle of a busy but historic city. That was the challenge and opportunity which faced the Norfolk Archaeological Unit when Norwich City Council approved a scheme to develop the old cattle market site immediately south of Norwich castle. This area had been the Norman castle's south bailey, but from 1738 onwards was progressively re-landscaped to accommodate the market; then in 1960, when the market moved out of the city centre, became an ugly but useful surface car park.
The development which occasioned the unit's two-year-old excavation, and opened at the end of last month, is a multi-level enclosed shopping centre, Castle Mall, which connects with city centre streets at four different levels and the greater part of whose roof is covered by a new urban park. To build it, the contractors, Bovis Construction, dug a huge hole 216 metres (708 ft) across at its widest, and 20 metres (60 ft) deep.
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