NHER 62557 (Monument record) - Medieval palaeochannels and post-medieval ditch

May 2017. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
The majority of the trenches exposed silty alluvial deposits of varying colour and composition. In one trench the earliest deposit exposed was a dark brown silt peat, which was sealed beneath a thick mid yellow brown clayey sit. Four features were identified that cut through these various deposits - a ditch and three large amorphous features interpreted as palaeochannels. One of the palaeochannels corresponds with a pond-like feature depicted on the 1st Edition O.S. map, although it appears that this was the remains of a much older feature; medieval pottery being recovered from layers of dark ashy material within its lower fill.
Medieval pottery was also recovered from another of the palaeochannels, along with fired clay, animal bone and cockle and mussel shells. The third palaeochannel produced a small amount of post-medieval material, although it is noted that these finds could be intrusive. The single north-east to south-west aligned ditch was however almost certainly a relatively recent feature producing a range of post-medieval finds and running parallel to boundaries depicted on the 1st Edition O.S. map. This ditch also produced a single possible Roman brick fragment and residual medieval material.
Unstratified finds collected during this work included medieval and post-medieval pottery sherds.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 8 February 2018.