NHER 5796 (Find Spot record) - Unprovenanced Palaeolithic handaxe and other flint implements, White Hill, Abbey Heath (Thetford, poorly located)

White Hill is one of several sites to the north-west of Thetford where Palaeolithic artefacts were recovered in the 19th century, during quarrying of the gravel deposits flanking the Little Ouse river.
This site was identified by H. Prigg, who recovered several Palaeolithic implements here during the 1860s.
Information from (S1).

SITE LOCATION

Although the precise location of 'White Hill' is not clear, it is recorded in (S2) and (S3) that, as with nearby 'Red Hill' (NHER 5795), it was a name given to a part of Abbey Heath by the quarrymen; in this case reflecting the pale colouration of the gravel they encountered here. According to (S4) this site lay approximately one mile down the river (presumably north) from Red Hill and was on the same (east) bank of the river. As noted by Wymer on (S5) and in (S6) the position of this site is incorrectly marked on the plan that accompanies (S7). Wymer (S6) has suggested that this site may have lain to the west of the railway and south of what was formerly the vitriol works; in an area where traces of what may have been old pits can be seen beneath the plantations (TL 855 864). It is however unlikely that this is the correct location for this site, given that this would place it some way to the north of Abbey Heath.

THE ARTEFACTS

Prigg recorded that he found three implements at this site (S4) and there is no evidence to suggest that further finds were recovered from this location. One of these implements is a handaxe that was given to the Salisbury Museum. This handaxe has with a worn white patina and is figured in (S8) and given specific mention in (S9). This is presumably the handaxe from the site listed by Roe (S10). According to (S10) this implement was subsequently part of a teaching collection at Oxford University. In (S11) it is described as a possible Middle Palaeolithic bout coupé handaxe, although it is not amongst the handaxes listed as possible bout coupés in (S12).

The other two objects that Prigg found are listed as handaxe roughouts by Roe (S10) and are presumably also held by the Salisbury Museum (no other collection is listed). On (S5) and in (S6) Wymer also describes a handaxe in the Pitt Rivers Museum that is apparently from this site. It should however be noted that an equivalent object cannot be identified in the museum's current records.

These finds are also listed in (S13) and (S14), although no additional information is given.

P. Watkins (HES), 27 June 2013.