NHER 44917 (Monument record) - Cropmarks of possible Saxon sunken buildings or pits

THESE CROPMARKS WERE PREVIOUSLY RECORDED UNDER NHER 36364


August 2006. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks of a group of possible Saxon grubenhauser or sunken buildings are visible on aerial photographs alongside St Mary’s church (NHER 10746) and St Peter’s chapel (NHER 10750), Burgh St Peter. The site consists of a linear spread of sub-rectangular and square pit-like features, which may be the remains of Anglo-Saxon huts with sunken floors. However the archaeological nature of these cropmarks is not certain and a geological origin must be considered a possibility. The site is centred on TM 4930 9374 and is positioned on a small peninsula of slightly higher ground overlooking the now flat expanse of the Waveney Valley and Burgh Marshes. The linear spread of the pits or huts sit just above the 0m contour and follows the line of the contour around the low peninsula.

A small number of these pits were previously recorded under NHER 36364. Additional examples of the sub-rectangular sunken pit-like features were mapped (S1-S2), forming a discontinuous strip running from TM 4923 9365 to TM 4943 9378. The archaeological significance of these features is still uncertain and apart from the juxtaposition of pits and ditches at TM 4931 9376 and TM 4941 9377, they do not appear to be obviously associated with any other features recorded under 36364, which were mainly field boundaries and ditches of either unknown or medieval to post medieval date. The pits or sunken features range in size from 1m by 2m to 4m across. The majority of the pits are sub-rectangular and angular in shape suggesting that they are manmade, rather than natural. The size and shape of many of the pit-like features is consistent with that of Saxon grubenhauser or sunken huts (S3). A sherd of Late Saxon pottery has been found within the western corner of the field (NHER 10752), although this is likely to postdate the possible grubenhauser, which are generally thought to date from the Early to Middle Saxon period. This later pottery may indicate continued activity on the site into the later Saxon and early Medieval period, culminating in the establishment of the medieval chapel on the site (NHER 10750).

The geological cropmarks visible on the low peninsula reveal a series of bands of gravels and other materials running obliquely across the site. It is therefore possible that these pits are the product of quarrying, although the strip of features appears to cut across the geological bands, rather than following them, as might be expected. It is also possible that these pit-like features represent pockets of differential material within the gravel, however a more rounded shape would be expected.
S. Massey (NMP), 07 August 2006.