NHER 61893 (Monument) - Possible degraded sea bank or saltern mound

June 2013. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed route of new sludge transfer pipeline.
Prior to the excavation of the single trench in this field it was noted that it coincided with a relatively pronounced east-to-west aligned mound. The highest point of this mound was at 4.16m OD and associated material appeared to be present along the entire length of the trench. Hand augering suggested that the base of these deposits lay at around 1.6m OD. A blue-grey silty clay encountered at this depth was interpreted as material associated with the original salt marsh (or similar) on which the mound had been constructed. Several shallow, amorphous features appeared to truncate the upper surface of the mound, one of which produced fragments of fired clay. Dumps of clay were also noted at the southern end of the trench, some of which had been fired pink and red.
The mound exposed in this trench was tentatively interpreted as representing a continuation of the sea bank that once crossed this field (NHER 2287). It should however be noted that traces of an east-to-west aligned section of this bank have actually been identified to the south of where this trench was excavated. Although only small amounts of burnt clay were exposed its presence is nevertheless difficult to explain if this feature post-dates the salt industry. It must therefore remain at least possible that the feature exposed at this location is actually a degraded saltern mound, similar to one that has been identified a little way to the west (NHER 22541).
See report (S1) for further details.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.189).
P. Watkins (HES), 31 October 2016. Amended 19 May 2019.