NHER 62748 (Monument record) - Middle Bronze Age hoard within ditch and other prehistoric and undated features

January 2002. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of excavation of pipe trench along western edge of field.
No archaeologically significant features or deposits were observed and no finds were recovered.
See report (S1) for further details.
Previously recorded under NHER 11788.
J. Allen (NLA), 2 January 2003. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 14 May 2018.

August-September 2011. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
Seventeen trenches were excavated, a number of which were positioned in order to investigate previously recorded cropmarks, including a probable ring-ditch (NHER 43552) and a pair of a pair of curvilinear bank and ditch boundaries (NHER 45158).
Both of the west-north-west to east-south-east aligned curvilinear boundaries were associated with reasonably substantial ditches, the southernmost of which was found to contain a group of Middle Bronze Age copper alloy objects. This probable hoard comprised two complete quoit-headed pins, two complete spiral-twisted torcs, an incomplete spiral-twisted bracelet and an incomplete plain bracelet. This has been identified as an example of an ‘ornament hoard’ belonging to the Taunton phase of the Middle Bronze Age (c.1400-1250 BC) and is a significant discovery, being potentially the first such hoard excavated in this country since the 19th century. Although ornament hoards are found across continental Europe quoit-headed pins are unique to southern Britain and rare, with fewer than 60 examples recorded. The presence of the hoard within a ditch is also highly unusual but although the objects were clearly somewhat dispersed the fact that the torcs and pins were both found together in pairs would suggest that this was indeed where the hoard had been originally deposited. Sherds of Middle Bronze Age pottery were also recovered close to the hoard, including several that were probably from a Deverel-Rimbury type urn. Other finds from the two ditches were limited to tiny scraps of possible Middle Bronze Age pottery and a small number of worked flints. Although the corresponding curvilinear bank and ditch cropmarks had been included in a group of medieval or post-medieval features both boundaries must now be regarded as prehistoric in date.
The trench excavated across the cropmark ring-ditch recorded two corresponding curvi-linear ditches that were both around 1m wide and only 0.3m deep. The small number of finds recovered included six Middle to Late Iron Age pottery sherds, a fragment of a loomweight or thatch weight of Iron Age/Roman type and several worked flints of Neolithic/Bronze Age date. A sample taken from one of the ditches produced charcoal but little else in the way of plant macrofossils or other remains. A sub-rectangular pit that would have lain close to the centre of the ring-ditch was left unexcavated, as were two other small discrete features close to the ring-ditch; these being regarded as potentially an inhumation and two cremations. The form of the ring-ditch and the nature of the finds recovered do however suggest that the ring-ditch may have actually been associated with some form of domestic structure, rather than a Bronze Age round barrow.
Although a number of other ditches were identified during this work these produced few finds and therefore remain undated. There was little correspondence between these features and the recorded cropmarks, the one exception being a ditch that was associated with a north-east to south-west aligned bank and ditch cropmark in the northernmost part of the field (also recorded under NHER 45158). Although several of the trenches coincided with fragmentary cropmarks of possible prehistoric or Roman date (recorded under NHER 43494) no surviving sub-surface remains were identified. The majority of the excavated ditches were aligned either north-to-south or east-to-west and were therefore most likely associated with a much more recent phase of activity: their orientation being similar to that of various cropmark boundaries of probable post-medieval date mapped to the north of Sidegate Road (NHER 45056).
Although possible pits were identified in many of the trenches these features were all undated, with finds limited to fragments of Roman or later ceramic building material and a possible sandstone polisher. It appears that these features were fairly unremarkable and it is likely that at least some were actually of natural origin.
The one other feature of note was a very small ring-ditch identified in the centre of the site that also produced no dating evidence.
The small number of unstratified finds recovered included a Late Neolithic/Bronze Age flint core, post-medieval pottery sherds, a fragment of clay tobacco pipe and a small amount of undatable iron slag.
Information from report uploaded to OASIS, HER copy awaited.
The Bronze Age hoard was declared Treasure (Ref: 2012 T73) and subsequently donated to Norwich Castle Museum, along with the fieldwork archive and other finds recovered (NWHCM : 2013.202).
P. Watkins (HES), 4 June 2018. Amended 16 May 2019 and 12 June 2020.

2017. Excavation.
Excavation of footprint of proposed new hospice and small area around site of Bronze Age hoard.
Details awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 14 May 2018.