NHER 62547 (Monument record) - Late Saxon features and multi-period finds

September 2017. Trial Trench.
Evaluation of site of proposed development site.
The single trench excavated revealed two very shallow features of possible Late Saxon date, the first a ditch or gully and the second tentatively interpreted as the corner of a sunken-feature building (grubenhaus). The ditch or gully was curvilinear and appeared to terminate within the trench. It produced five Late Saxon pottery sherds, animal bones and a piece of daub. The adjacent possible structure was a feature with a fairly flat base and steep sides and appeared to be the rounded corner of a larger square or rectangular hollow. No post- or stake-holes were visible in the exposed portion of the feature. Finds were limited to a single Late Saxon pottery sherd and a fragment of lava quern.
A number of unstratified finds were recovered from subsoil and topsoil deposits including Middle Saxon, Late Saxon and medieval pottery sherds, a medieval cloth seal and post-medieval buttons and an iron harness buckle. It is noted that the medieval pottery sherds were relatively small and abraded suggesting that they had probably been deposited during manuring after this land had reverted to agricultural use.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 6 February 2018.