Gilesgate, Hexham, Northumberland
NY 9375 6433; Adrian Bailey and Sam Potter; watching brief; December 2004-January 2005; GHX 04.
An archaeological monitoring and recording exercise was undertaken at Gilesgate, Hexham, Northumberland. The work was commissioned by Integrated Utility Services to monitor groundworks associated with the excavation of a trench for a new electricity supply along Gilesgate, Circle Place and Haugh Lane. The work was undertaken as a condition of the planning permission, following a recommendation by Northumberland County Council Conservation Team. The recommendation was made because the site lies within the town of Hexham, a settlement since at least AD 673.
The majority of the trench excavated in Gilesgate, Circle Place and Haugh Lane exposed only service trenches and modern make-up deposits associated with recent pavement surfaces. Two small areas of post-medieval brick foundations were recorded in the trench in Gilesgate. A portion of cobbled surface was exposed at the base of the trench in Circle Place. This is also likely to have dated from the post-medieval period and presumably relates to an earlier street layout.
No features or deposits of archaeological significance were encountered in the section of the trench which traversed Gilesgate and only modern deposits associated with the present road surface and service trenches were recorded. The section excavated across the carriageway of Haugh Lane revealed archaeological features and deposits relating to an earlier street pattern. An earlier road surface was recorded which demonstrated that Haugh Lane was originally narrower than its present course, its location and width roughly corresponding to the modern northern carriageway. A fragment of wall foundation was recorded to the south of this road surface, underneath the present day southern carriageway. This may represent a roadside structure or boundary wall. A deposit of soil located to the south of this wall is likely to have been a buried garden soil.
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