A priority of the excavation was to see if the French Borough was entirely new or if it had been built on earlier settlements. Prior to the excavation, it had been thought that this part of the city was essentially rural before the arrival of the Normans. However, the S-shaped streets making up part of the French Borough’s street system were indicative of rural lanes and parallel ditches were also found aligned northwest to southeast across the site. Both pottery found in the ditches and their distinctive alignment suggests that they predated the new Borough. The function of the ditches is unknown, but it has been suggested that they may be late Saxon in date and represent divisions between plots of land or tenements. Late Saxon development is also known from other areas of Norwich, for example in King Street.

 

However, the best evidence for earlier occupation came from the most spectacular find – a small Viking gold ingot. This is the only gold ingot of its type yet discovered in England. Unfortunately, it was not found in an original layer but in a sand deposit used as bedding for an eighteenth-century floor and it was thought at the time of discovery that the ingot may have been brought from elsewhere, perhaps with the sand. However, several days later, a sherd of pottery crucible with gold residue adhering to its surface was found in a nearby pit. From the probable date of the pottery and the pit layer, it was therefore surmised that gold working was taking place here sometime during the Anglo-Scandinavian (860-917AD) or late Anglo-Saxon period (917-1066AD). This activity may be connected with one of the properties represented by the ditches.