Co-op Site, West Orchard

December 1932

II. EXCAVATIONS IN WEST ORCHARD (Co-op. SITE) EAST AND WEST OF RIVER

Excavations reveal what may have been hidden for several hundred years or more, and although no great quantity of material was found, it was none the less interesting. The level of the riverbed, which was once a ford (Smyth-ford) was about 13-ft. 6-ins. deep, and on the east side had been made up in two or even three different periods. At about 5-ft. deep gate posts were discovered, and the hooks on which the gate hung were still in the decayed posts. It is quite probable that a roadway ran on the east side of the river into West Orchard before the present road on the west side was made. At a depth of 5-ft. a number of pinnacle stones were discovered, possibly from the destruction of the Hall which stood close by in West Orchard, originally called St. Nicholas Hall, and Corpus Christi, but later called Leather Hall. In this Hall a great deal of the important business of the City was transacted; the Hall was used for numerous purposes - a prison for captured soldiers - a licensed preaching-place in the 17th century where the ministers who were ejected from St. Michael's and Holy Trinity Churches held their services. The Hall became ruinous and unsuitable for services, and in 1700 the Presbyterians who had used this place for their worship decided to leave it, and a new building (now standing), was erected in Smithford Street on the site of an old inn named "The Cross Keys." In 1738 the ruins of the Hall were sold to Mr. W. Freeman for £55 5s. 0d.

Beneath the top five feet of 18/19 century tipping was found several feet of 14/15 century tipping, and below this some of 12/13 century, containing small pieces of black unglazed Norman pottery, also a bronze bodkin of the same period, which measures 71/4-ins in length. Deer's antlers in sound condition were found near the river - the deer may have been slain when drinking, in the days before the walls prevented them from entering the city.

On the west side the old stone boundary wall of the river was discovered. Beneath the buildings now pulled down a bed of tanning several feet thick was found - no doubt a tannery shed existed close by, this being a suitable place for washing skins, etc. The key of the tannery was discovered where it had been trodden into the mud, and is of 14th century period. The Barkers, of which Barkers Butts was at Radford, held their guild at the Leather Hall, and supplied eight men for the defence of the city. To keep green the memory of the "Barkers" we have Barkers Butts Lane and School.

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