NHER 59636 (Find Spot record) - Unprovenanced Mesolithic and undated prehistoric worked flints, Setchey (West Winch, poorly located)

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Summary

The King's Lynn Museum holds a range of prehistoric worked flints that are recorded as having been found by J. O. H. Nicholls in the Setchey area of West Winch parish. The majority of these flints are believed to be of Mesolithic date, including blades, blade cores and scrapers. The provenance of this material is not known, although the collection is likely to include flints recorded as having been found in a gravel pit close to the church during the 1930s (NHER 2256).

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Location

Map sheet Not recorded
Civil Parish WEST WINCH, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Map

No mapped location recorded.

Early-mid 20th century. Stray Finds.
The King's Lynn Museum holds a number of worked flints that are recorded as having been found by J. O. H. Nicholls (a teacher in King's Lynn) in 'Setch' (Setchey), which is now part of West Winch parish.
This assemblage was examined by J. J. Wymer, with (S1) listing the following pieces as being Mesolithic:
4 cores.
149 blades/flakes.
2 scrapers.
3 miscellaneous pieces.
Nicholls' finds have been accessioned by the KLM as follows:
23 microliths (KILLM : 1960.28.8). These are recorded as being single flakes, trimmed on one face. It should be noted that these are not necessarily true microliths, their description and a photograph of one piece indicating that they should actually be seen as backed blades (particularly given that no microliths were identified by Wymer).
3 convex scrapers (KILLM : 1960.28.9-11)
50+ ?Mesolithic flints of unspecified type (KILLM : 1993.170). These finds were formerly part of Nicholl's teaching collection that was recovered from the King's Lynn Technical College in January 1993.
4 microblade cores (KILLM : 2001.549; KILLM : 2001.550; KILLM : 2001.551; KILLM : 2001.552). These are presumably the pieces examined by Wymer.
The provenance of this collection is not entirely clear, although it is reasonably likely that at least some of the flints are those that are recorded as having been found at a quarry pit in Setchey during the 1930s (NHER 2256). Although the finder of these flints is not recorded, it is highly likely that it was Nicholls, as it was he who would later discovery a Roman corn drier in this pit. Some may also have come from a nearby site where Mesolithic material was also recovered around the same time (NHER 2257). Wymer's gazetteer lists the KLM Nicholls Collection alongside the material the Norwich Castle Museum holds from the latter site.
It is not immediately clear why there is such a discrepancy between the totals given by Wymer for the Nicholls Collection and those given in the museum's accession records, although it should be noted that Nicholls' teaching material would not have been seen by Wymer. There has however clearly been some degree of confusion about this site as Wymer noted that the Setchey site was also known as Wormegay - which is almost certainly an error.
P. Watkins (HES), 19 August 2013.

  • <S1> Monograph: Wymer, J. J. and Bonsall, C. J. (eds). 1977. Gazetteer of Mesolithic Sites in England and Wales with a Gazetteer of Upper Palaeolithic Sites in England and Wales. Council for British Archaeology Research Report. No. 20. p 215.
  • BLADE CORE (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
  • LITHIC IMPLEMENT (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
  • RETOUCHED BLADE (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
  • SCRAPER (TOOL) (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)

Related NHER Records (0)

Record last edited

Jul 3 2018 12:43PM

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