NHER 1260 (Find Spot record) - Unprovenanced Mesolithic, Neolithic and undatable worked flints (Hunstanton, poorly located)

Various objects found during the late 19th century and early 20th century in the Hunstanton area, but with no additional information regarding provenance.

THE FINDS OF H. LE STRANGE

During the mid 20th century many areas in Hunstanton district were fieldwalked by H. le Strange. The majority of the worked flints that he recovered were given to the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (CUMAA), with representative collections of material also given to the Norwich Castle Museum, the King's Lynn Museum and the Wisbech Museum. Information from (S1). Le Strange assigned an identifying number (prefixed by a parish code) to the finds from each of the fields he walked. It appears that many of his numbers were the same as the old O.S field numbers, although was not always the case.

It has been possible to locate the majority of the fields that le Strange's walked, although the provenance of some of the finds in the various museums remains uncertain. These include a small assemblage of Mesolithic worked flints in the CUMAA; listed in (S2) as comprising 2 cores, 13 scrapers and 1 microlith. Although these finds were catalogued by R. Jacobi they do no appear to be listed in his personal records (S3). Jacobi's records do however list a number of flints in the Wisbech Museum that were found by le Strange at his site HS 173 (the location of which is not known at present). These include
2 blade cores of possible Mesolithic date and a number of pieces of unspecified date (core, flakes and 2 blades).

OTHER FINDS IN MUSEUMS

According to (S4) the Birmingham Museum holds 12 "later prehistoric flints" that were found in Hunstanton. These are marked "in situ Hessle BC (cliff)", "Bro BC" and "Bro BC Ringstead". These descriptions are a reference to the geological deposit known as the Hessle Boulder Clay/Brown Boulder Clay that has at various times been exposed along the coast at Hunstanton and in quarry pits further inland. During the early 20th century a significant number of worked flints (many of which were Mesolithic) were recovered from this deposit by J. Reid Moir, who published a number of articles on his discoveries - see for example (S5) and (S6). It is therefore possible that the Birmingham flints were recovered by Reid Moir or one of his contemporaries.
Previous recorded as NHER 39489.
P. Watkins (HES), 19 December 2013.

OTHER FINDS

It is recorded in (S7) that Hunstanton was one of the locations that had produced Neolithic flints of "Boulder Clay Type" prior to 1907. Although the nature of these finds is not recorded it is noted that they were at this time in the Ruskin School Museum, Heacham. This suggests they may well have been recovered by B. Lowerison, the headmaster and an enthusiastic amateur archaeologist.
E. Rose (NAU).