NHER 60065 (Monument record) - Post-medieval pits and post-holes and medieval pottery sherds

June 2000. Trial Trench.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
The single 25m long trench revealed 23 cut features consisting of pits and post-holes. All of these were relatively modern, containing domestic rubbish such as teapots, bottles, fragments of prams and other metal debris, and have been dated to the late 19th or early 20th century. One of the post-holes still contained the decayed remains of its wooden post. These features and finds relate to the occupation of Nos 1-3 Chalk Lane. These yellow-brick cottages do not appear on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map (S1) and therefore were not constructed until at least the late 19th century.
Two sherds of 11th to 13th century pottery were also recovered, one from the topsoil and the other adjacent to a post-hole feature.
This trench was placed to investigate the possible route of the Early Saxon or Iron Age Birchamditch earthwork (NHER 3937) which is believed to have followed Chalk Lane, but unfortunately due to practical considerations the trench was placed approximately 5m west of the western edge of the road and no traces of the earthwork were observed.
See report (S2) for further detail. The results of this work are also summarised in (S3).
Previously recorded under NHER 3937.
D. Gurney (NLA), 23 January 2002. Amended by H. Hamilton (HES), 30 May 2014.