NHER 58271 (Monument record) - Site of former river channel, possible track, and timber yard

November 2011. Borehole Survey.
Window sampling evaluation of proposed development site just south of the River Wensum.
Analysis of the sediments taken from the five boreholes revealed landscape changes from the Quaternary period to present. The earliest sediments encountered were identified as Quaternary river terrace gravels and may represent the position of the River Wensum prior to canalisation, when it was wider and shallower. Similar deposits in nearby areas have produced Woolly mammoth and Palaeolithic flint (NHERs 473 and 474). There has been no evidence of when the River Wensum was confined to its current location through canalisation, but it has been postulated that this may have occurred sometime during the medieval period and if so may have been carried out by Carrow Abbey (NHER 385).

Following canalisation, this area appears to have been naturally in-filled over a long period of time. It became waterlogged, with several periods of major flooding, forming a fen and later a water meadow as drainage improved. It may have been used for grazing for an extended period and is depicted as rough pasture on the 1886 Ordnance Survey map (S2). A possible gravel track was identified within the sediments within the upper layers of the water meadow deposits.

The uppermost sequence of deposits included a series of yard surfaces interspersed with make-up deposits. These surfaces are associated with a former timber yard depicted on the 1908 Ordnance Survey map and still shown on maps at least until 1968.
See report (S1) for further information.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2011.717).
H. Hamilton (HES), 21 November 2012. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 24 August 2025.