NHER 61878 (Monument record) - Medieval to modern features

December 2013. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
Four trenches were excavated, all of which revealed archaeologically significant remains. The features identified included ditches, pits, post-holes and structural remains and appeared to represent several phases of medieval to post-medieval activity.
A single Roman tile was the only evidence for activity on the site prior to the medieval period.
A number of potentially medieval features were identified including several ditches, pits and at least one post-hole. Medieval finds were however limited to a fairly small pottery assemble.
The majority of the post-medieval features were also ditches and pits. Notable other remains included a roughly north-to-south aligned robber trench that may have been the remains of a 16th-century structure. The other features appear to have been associated with more than one phase of post-medieval activity. At least one of the ditches was of probable 16th- to 17th-century date, while the other remains were clearly much more recent.
The easternmost trench revealed several post-medieval and undated ditches, at least one of which is likely to have been associated with the boundary of an area of common land that survived until the latter half of the 19th century. Several large post-medieval quarry pits were also identified in this trench.
The post-medieval finds assemblage are largely unremarkable, comprising pottery sherds, brick and tile fragments, small amounts of clay tobacco pipe and glass and a single metal object. Other finds of note recovered during this work include an assemblage of metal working debris that is composed almost entirely of smelting slag. This debris was recovered from a range of potentially medieval, post-medieval and undated contexts.
See report (S1) for further details.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.221).
P. Watkins (HES), 25 October 2015. Amended 19 May 2019.

December 2014-January 2015. Excavation.
Excavations prior to redevelopment of site. This work targeted the footprints of the new structures, with six separate areas excavated (several of which had not been investigated during the preceding trial trenching). The results of the excavations were consistent with those of the earlier work, with the excavated remains representing several phases of medieval to post-medieval activity. Evidence for activity prior to the medieval period was again largely absent, being limited to a handmade Iron Age or Early Saxon pottery sherd, several Roman tiles and a single Late Saxon pottery sherd – all either unstratified or residual in later contexts.
Features of probable medieval date included a series of north-to-south and east-to-west aligned plot or field boundary ditches. The alignments of these features were similar to those of the potentially medieval ditches identified during the evaluation (not all of which would have passed through the excavated plots). Several groups of medieval pits were also identified, the majority of which lay in the eastern half of the site, with one particularly dense cluster present in the south-easternmost excavation area. Medieval finds were limited to a single coin and a relatively small pottery assemblage, suggesting that the features excavated are unlikely to have been associated with domestic activity. This is supported by the small number of samples that were processed, which produced only small plant macrofossil assemblages likely to represent scattered refuse (although potentially incorporating some grain-drying waste and/or culinary detritus). The pottery recovered suggests that activity occurred principally during the 11th to 14th centuries, with little late medieval material present.
As suggested during the earlier evaluation it appears that there was renewed activity on the site during the earlier part of the medieval period. Notable remains of this date included the footings of a reasonable substantial rectangular structure. The walls of this building were principally constructed of flint and mortar, with the corners partially built of brick. The bricks suggest a 16th- to 18th date for this structure, making it broadly contemporary with the similarly-aligned structural remains identified a little way to the east during the evaluation. Other features potentially associated with this earlier post-medieval phase of activity included two ditches and several groups of post-holes.
As during the earlier work a notable assemblage of iron slag was recovered, which was again dominated by tap and smelting slag. This material was recovered from a range of contexts, although its presence in a number of potentially medieval features suggests that it was probably associated with an industry that originated in this period. Although the slag was presumably generated somewhere in the vicinity there was no evidence for furnaces on the site itself.
A number of features related to much more recent activity on the site. A north-to-south aligned ditch at the western edge of the site almost certainly marked the line of the boundary that previously divided this land from the larger field to the west. This boundary was still extant in the late 20th century. Aerial photographs taken in 1946 show some form of compound in this part of the site, within which were two rectangular structures. These buildings appear on no earlier or later cartographic sources suggesting that they were some form of World War Two camp or other military site. An L-shaped ditch in the south-west corner of the site may well have formed the eastern and southern boundary of this compound, with the recovery of barbed wire from both this feature and the western boundary ditch supporting the suggestion that the site had a military use.
Finds recovered from two large deep pond-like features suggest that they were filled relatively recently, although it is unclear when they were originally dug. Undated features included a small cluster of post-holes that may have been the remains of some form of ephemeral structure.
See assessment report (S2) for further details. Final report awaited.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.274).
P. Watkins (HES), 25 October 2016. Amended 19 May 2019.