NHER 64574 (Monument record) - Multi-period and undated features including World War Two anti-tank ditch

July 2014. Desk-based Assessment.
Assessment of proposed development area.
It is concluded that the known archaeology of the area and the topographic location of the site mean there is a moderate to high potential for archaeological remains associated with activity during multiple periods.
No features of interest were observed during a brief site visit.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 28 January 2021.

May 2015. Walkover Survey.
Detailed walkover survey of Royal Norwich Golf Club undertaken in order to support and enhance the findings of an earlier desk-based assessment (see above). The focus of this survey was an assessment of the likely impact of various factors on the likely preservation of archaeological. These included the natural topography, post-medieval agriculture and quarrying, the development of the golf course and military activity during World War Two.
Overall the survey confirmed the original conclusion that archaeological remains can be expected to be in a relatively good state of preservation, will only small areas likely to have seen significant disturbance.
See report (S2) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 28 January 2021.

November 2017. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of area adjacent to Drayton High Road (Phase 1).
A total of 32 trenches were excavated.
Two trenches were placed over the line of the previously identified World War Two anti-tank ditch, which crossed this part of the site on a north-east to south-west alignment. A machine-excavated slot in one trench demonstrated that this feature was 5.9m wide, 1.85m and backfilled with material that contained a range of contemporary debris, including picket posts with lengths of barbed wire attached and pieces of wire cable. In the second trench the ditch was not fully excavated as here it also contained several large blocks of concrete and metal reinforcing bars.
The remaining trenches revealed few archaeologically-significant remains. A small number of scattered possible pits were recorded, including one possible prehistoric feature that produced a single sherd of Early-Middle Bronze Age pottery and several potentially contemporary worked flints (a scrap of medieval pottery was regarded as likely intrusive). A sample from its primary fill was found to contain small quantities of charred cereal grains and seeds, along with charcoal and bone fragments. The other small possible pits were all generally unremarkable, with finds limited to a small number of worked flints. At least some were probably natural features.
Evidence for more recent activity on the site was largely limited to a number of much larger pits. These included a probable quarry pit that produced a fragment of late medieval/post-medieval tile and an irregular feature found to contain a Georgian watch winder, a post-medieval pottery sherd and fragments of ceramic building material (including one potentially residual piece of possible Roman date). A number of large pits of obviously modern date were also recorded.
Other features included several north-west to south-east and north-east to south-west aligned ditches. Most of these features were undated, with finds limited to occasional prehistoric worked flints - most of which were probably residual. There was though some limited evidence that a least some were of relatively recent date - one of the ditches at the easternmost end of the area examined being found to contain modern nail fragments and another in this part of the site producing animal bone fragments unlikely to be of any great antiquity.
The small assemblage of unstatified finds recovered included a single sherd of Roman pottery and a number of Late Prehistoric work flints, including an awl or burinated point of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age date.
See report (S4) for further details.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2018.50).
P. Watkins (HES), 29 January 2021.

January-May 2021. Trial Trenching.
Further evaluation of proposed development site to east of Drayton High Road (Phase 2).
The forty-three trenches excavated revealed little in the way of archaeologically-significant remains, with only a small number of scattered pits recorded - the majority of which produced little or no dating evidence. Evidence for prehistoric activity was limited to a four flint flakes, including one potentially Early Neolithic blade-like piece recovered from an otherwise undated pit. The three other flakes were found in a pit that also produced a single handmade pottery sherd of possible Early or Middle Saxon date. The other pits included one containing late post-medieval finds and another 20th-century material. The remainder were all undated.
Although one of the trenches coincided with the recorded line of the World War Two anti-tank ditch no trace of this feature was identified (which is surprising, given that this substantial ditch had been recorded 200m to the south-west during the preceding phase of work).
A post-medieval token was the only unstratified find of note.
Information from draft report.
P. Watkins (HES), 7 November 2023.

July-August 2023. Trial Trenching.
This final phase of archaeological evaluation saw the investigation of two areas at the east end of the site (Phase 3).
Remains of interest were limited to a pit-like feature in the north-east part of the site that appeared to coincide with one end of an elongated negative geophysical anomaly. Two sherds of probable later Iron Age pottery were recovered from this feature.
Layers recorded in several of the trenches almost certainly represented modern landscaping associated with the golf course that had previously occupied the site. A number of the geophysical anomalies recorded in the north-east part of the site were also shown to coincide with sand trap bunkers. No others were found to be associated with potentially archaeologically-significant remains.
No unstratified finds were recovered.
See report (S5) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 30 November 2025.