NHER 58549 (Monument record) - Medieval and post-medieval remains

March 2011. Trial Trenching.
The five trenches excavated revealed a number of pits and ditches of medieval and post-medieval date.
Evidence for earlier activity was largely limited to a small assemblage of Early Neolithic and Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age worked flints, all of which were residual within later features. A small number of Late Saxon and early medieval pottery sherds were also recovered, suggesting the main phase of activity had commenced by at least the 11th century, although this material came exclusively from features that also produced high medieval pottery. The remains of likely medieval date included several east-to-west and north-to-south aligned ditches and a number of discrete features, the largest of which were probably extraction pits. These features were concentrated in a trench at the northern edge of the site, with an east-to-west aligned ditch crossing the site to the south potentially representing the southern limit of medieval activity. Other finds recovered from these features included a medieval buckle, a medieval strap end, a medieval brick fragment, pieces of lava quern, an iron nail, a bone bobbin, fragments of animal bone and oyster shell. Samples taken from selected deposits produced small assemblages of charred cereal grain likely to represent domestic hearth waste or burnt grain storage residual.
The small number of later features included two large probable extraction pits in the southern half of the site, which both produced fragments of post-medieval ceramic building material. Single sherds of post-medieval pottery were also recovered from a pit or ditch in the same part of the site and an otherwise undated east-to-west aligned ditch at the eastern edge of the site.
See report (S1) for further details.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2011.202).
P. Watkins (HES), 16 March 2025.

October 2011-January 2012. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks carried out during the development of new housing recorded no archaeological finds or features.
See report (S2) for more details.
M. Langham-Lopez (HES), 14 January 2013.