NHER 61932 (Monument record) - Medieval and undated features and multi-period finds

January-November 2014. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of excavation of cable trench.
Three ditches were observed in this field, all of which had wide ‘u’-shaped profiles. Although these features produced no dating evidence they are presumed to be of either medieval or early post-medieval date. None appear to correspond with boundaries marked on 19th-century maps.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 2 November 2016.

November 2014. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with construction of ménage and access road.
The stripping of a rectangular area for the ménage itself revealed a cluster of remains comprising four linear features and a pit. The most substantial of the linear features was an east-to-west aligned ditch that produced several medieval pottery sherds. A residual sherd of ?Iron Age pottery and a lava quern fragment were also recovered from this feature. The other linear features were much narrower and produced no dating evidence. It was however noted that the fills of these features were very similar, with all of these deposits containing flecks of charcoal and burnt clay. The single circular pit also contained similar material and it is therefore likely that this group of features was associated with a single phase of activity.
Unstratified finds recovered from this part of the site included a small number of Neolithic/Bronze Age worked flints, a medieval coin and pottery sherd, post-medieval buttons and musket balls and two undatable fragments of smelting slag.
No archaeologically significant features or deposits were noted during the stripping of the access road.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 2 November 2016.