Part of the Saxon Town of Thetford, including the town boundary, areas of occupation and industry, and the church and churchyard of St John

Summary

The archaeological remains of part of the Saxon Town of Thetford, including likely roadways, buildings, sites of industrial activity and domestic occupation, the site of the church and churchyard of St John, and a post-medieval upstanding earthwork bank likely to have been built over an earlier boundary feature at the edge of the Saxon town.

Reasons for Designation

Part of the Saxon Town of Thetford, including the town boundary, areas of occupation and industry, and the church and churchyard of St John, which are scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Period: the Saxon town of Thetford was a major regional centre and the survival of this cross section of urban life, religious practice and the town’s outer perimeter illustrate the period immediately before and after the Norman Conquest;

* Documentation: our understanding of the site is significantly enhanced by the archaeological investigations undertaken here from the 1960s into the 2020s;

* Survival: despite some disturbance through archaeological excavation or limited areas of development, below ground features are known to survive; Ground Penetrating Radar shows the Church of St John and a large pottery kiln surviving with particular clarity;

* Diversity: there are several different features contained within the scheduled area: sites of urban industry and occupation, boundary features, roadways, buildings, and the site of at least one church;

* Potential: the site will possess archaeological, artefactual and environmental information relating to the Saxon town, to St John’s Church, and to the town’s boundary features;

* Group Value: with the nearby scheduled monument 'Priory of the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre and part of Saxon Town' which together further contributes to our understanding of a Saxon town.

History

In the Early-Saxon Period (AD 410-660) settlement in Thetford centred on a ford to the west of the town, on the south bank of the Little Ouse, in an area later partly overlain by a Norman ringwork known as Red Castle (Knocker 1967).

Occupation in the Middle-Saxon period (AD 660-899) also lay in the area of Red Castle (Knocker 1967), although its exact nature and extent remains poorly understood. Halfdan Ragnarsson established a Viking base at Thetford in AD 869, with the town becoming an important economic and military centre.

By the Late-Saxon period (AD 899-1066), Thetford had developed into a prosperous trading centre. Around AD 900, substantial defences were constructed in the form of a bank and ditch forming two semi-circles on the north and south banks of the river: the southern circuit extended south-east from Red Castle towards Nuns’ Bridges, and the northern circuit focused on the ford now crossed by Bridge Street. Despite strengthening in the AD 980s, Thetford was attacked by Sweyn Forkbeard in 1004 and 1010, after which it developed as a major Anglo-Danish centre and an important industrial hub producing distinctive pottery known as Thetford ware. 

A motte and bailey castle at Castle Hill was erected shortly after the Norman Conquest, reusing an earlier Iron Age hillfort. A second defensive work, a ringwork known as Red Castle, was constructed during the Anarchy (1135–1154), partly overlying the Early-Saxon settlement and the Late-Saxon town defences.

By the C13, the Late-Saxon town on the south bank was largely abandoned, with settlement contracting to the north bank. Limited occupation south of the river persisted into the C14 before the land reverted to arable and pasture.

THE SITE OF THE SAXON TOWN ON PLAYING FIELDS
The site of the Saxon Town on playing fields was added to the Schedule in 1968 and from 1988 the area was merged with the scheduled site of the church and churchyard of St John. Close to the boundary with Redcastle Family School, the Thetford Community Ballpark was constructed on a raised mount between 2003 and 2006. By 2007 the ballpark was associated with a separately fenced field no longer in use as part of the Grammar School.

Since 1950 the area covered by playing fields has undergone several excavations, a magnetometry survey and two Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) surveys. In 1955, flint surfaces interpreted as metalled roads were identified by excavation in advance of the construction of the Grammar School tennis courts. Excavations led by BK Davison 1964-1966 uncovered six kilns, centred at TL 8632 8287 (east of the present community ballpark). Over the whole area evidence has been identified of Romano-British occupation (pits and circular postholes), and subsequent Early-Saxon occupation (sunken featured buildings). The most intensive period of occupation was dated to the Later-Saxon and early post-conquest periods. Indentifiable features include property boundaries, rectangular post hole settings (some for large buildings) and numerous pits. Towards the central southern extent of the monument the foundations of a two-cell building corresponding typologically to other nearby Saxon churches was identified through GPR survey (2024). A large circular feature with wall thicknesses of up to 2m was also identified through GPR, close to the southern part of the boundary between the two school playing fields. This feature, which contains an octagonal structure within it and an apsidal protrusion, may be a large kiln. A watching brief was applied to the creation of the Thetford Community Ballpark.

ST JOHN'S CHURCH AND CHURCHYARD
The apparent site of the church and churchyard of St John was marked on historic maps. St John’s was one of four Saxon churches subordinate to the minster church of St Mary in Thetford and was mentioned in Domesday Book. If St John’s ever had parochial status, it did not last long. In the later-C13 a leper hospital of St John the Evangelist was recorded in Thetford, perhaps indicating this church. In 1414 Henry V granted the chapel, hospital and hermitage of St John to the Austin Friars, in whose hands it remained until the Dissolution. The spiritualities of the chapel passed to St George’s Nunnery in 1535 and, ultimately, into the possession of Sir Richard Fulmerston. In 1957-1958, teachers and pupils of Thetford Grammar School excavated small trenches around the area traditionally identified with St John's Church, uncovering four human skeletons in one trench. GPR survey (2024) identified an approximately 50m x 50m rectilinear walled enclosure corresponding with the site of the chapel and burial ground. Extensions to the walled enclosure were found to the north-west and south-east, along with evidence of possible building remains.

THE BANK
At the western end of the site is a linear earthwork traditionally interpreted as part of the Saxon town defensive bank and ditch. The existence of these defensive earthworks around the southern boundary of the Saxon town is known from historical sources and from excavations around Thetford since the Second World War. Excavations outside the scheduled area conducted by Knocker in 1952 and 1959 located parts of the town ditch and found it varied between 42’ wide x 11’ deep and 30’ wide x 8’ deep. In 2005, a community excavation was conducted within the scheduled area close to Redcastle School. It concluded that the upstanding bank, though it contained some Saxon material, is likely to be mostly post-Medieval in date and may have been erected as part of the enclosure and replanning of the landscape. This post-Medieval bank may have reused the pre-existing boundary feature established by the Saxon bank and ditch and is likely to stand on or alongside archaeological evidence relating to the town's earlier earthwork boundaries.

Details

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS: The monument lies south of the River Little Ouse, between Brandon Road, London Road, St Martin’s Way and Prior Stephen Way. It comprises several features of the Saxon town of Thetford: areas of domestic and industrial occupation, the site of the church and churchyard of St John, probable trackways, and the likely location of part of the defensive bank and ditch that encircled the town. Most of the site is covered by playing fields and, at the western end, by a largely post-medieval bank which extends into open space within the St John's Way housing estate.

DESCRIPTION: The site lies within the valley of the River Little Ouse, on a gentle slope. The site is primarily characterised by the wide flat open spaces of school playing fields, and by the largely post-medieval bank that runs through the grounds of Redcastle Family School and into the St John's Way housing estate.

THETFORD GRAMMAR SCHOOL PLAYING FIELDS: The largest part of the monument is within the fenced boundary of Thetford Grammar School's playing fields. On its southern edge there is a tall beech hedge, and there are mature trees along much of the eastern and northern boundaries. The playing fields are divided into two distinct parts: a smaller northern component and a larger southern one, partially separated by a short line of Scots pines and a bank formed of earth and rubble hardcore (up to 1.5m high and 5-6m wide). At the east there is a hard-surfaced tennis court, fenced, alongside which is a long-jump track and sandpit. Today (2026) the only buildings here are a pair of wooden sheds close to the Brandon Road corner and three shipping containers. Other elements of sporting infrastructure include lighting columns and goal posts.

REDCASTLE FAMILY SCHOOL PLAYING FIELDS: The western end of the sports fields includes a rectangular strip of land, roughly 0.6ha, between the community ballpark and London Road that forms the playing fields of Redcastle Family School. This too is bounded by fences, within which area is a further shipping container, a pétanque ‘terrain’ with a gravelled surface, and an area of wooden play equipment.

THETFORD COMMUNITY BALLPARK: The hard-surfaced ballpark is fenced and floodlit, and stands on a raised mound roughly 0.5m high at its eastern extent. It forms part of a larger pair of separately fenced playing fields within which there are no built features above ground. The larger of these, centred on TL 86301 82854, includes the area of BK Davison's 1964-1966 excavations which identified a series of pottery kilns.

THE BANK: The post-Medieval bank that runs through the grounds of Redcastle Family School and into the open space at the centre of the St John’s Way estate reaches a height of up to 2m, and around 20m in width. Several concrete and/or bitumen-covered paths have been laid across the bank. Brick and concrete retaining structures have been built into its edges. At the boundary between the school and the community centre the bank has been cut through to create ramps, steps and pathways with retaining brick walls. Within the school grounds the bank includes the pedestal of a Second World War spigot mortar emplacement.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING: the protection includes the area of part of the Saxon town of Thetford, the church and churchyard of St John, and the post-medieval bank within the scheduled monument.

EXCLUSIONS: all path and playing surfaces, brick walls and fences, signage, drain covers, lighting, goal posts, sheds and shipping containers are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

NF 291

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

Sources

Books and journals
Davison, BK, The Late Saxon Town of Thetford in Medieval Archaeology, Vol. 11, (1967), 189-208
Knocker, GM, Excavations at Red Castle, Thetford in Norfolk Archaeology, Vol. 34 Part 2, (1967), 119-186

Other
Andrews, P, ‘Excavations at Redcastle Furze Thetford, 1988-9’, in East Anglian Archaeology, Report No. 72 (1995).
Dunmore, S, and Carr, R, ‘The Late Saxon Town of Thetford: An Archaeological and Historical Survey’ in East Anglian Archaeology Report No. 4 (1976).
Rogerson, A, and Dallas, C, ‘Excavations in Thetford 1948-59 and 1973-80’ in East Anglian Archaeology, Report No.22 (1984).
Historic England Research Report Series 82/2024 - Thetford Town OCN Project: Thetford Grammar School. Report on Geophysical Survey, July 2024, by Megan Clements and Neil Linford.
Norfolk Archaeological Unit, Report No. 1114: An archaeological excavation on the Town Bank at Redcastle Furze Primary School, Thetford (Kenneth Penn, 2005)

End of official list entry

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