NHER 64694 (Monument record) - Late Saxon and medieval features and multi-period finds

May 2014. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
The eleven trenches excavated revealed a variety of discrete and linear features, as well as a cobbled surface believed to represent the remains of a medieval building.
Evidence for activity prior to the medieval period was limited to a small number of prehistoric finds. These included two sherds of probable Late Neolithic Grooved Ware pottery recovered from an otherwise undated north-west to south-east aligned ditch and a single flint flake found in a pit that also produced what were possible fragments of a prehistoric fired clay object. A sample taken from the fill of this pit produced a small assemblage of plant macrofossils including charcoal fragments, oat grains and hazel nutshell.
The cobbled surface was exposed at the northern end of one of the trenches closest to the Yarmouth Road and is thought to have been the floor of some form of building. It was composed of sub-rounded and sub-angular flint cobbles and associated with a small number of finds, including medieval pottery sherds and a floor tile of later medieval date. The possible floor was overlain by a dark soil believed to represent a midden-type deposit that had formed after the structure fell out of use. This produced a number of additional medieval pottery sherds and fragments of lava quern.
Other features of interest included a tight cluster of four undated post-holes revealed in the central part of the site that potentially represented the remains of some form of structure. A sample from the fill of one of these post-holes produced a small assemblage of plant macrofossils including charcoal and a single chaff element (wheat rachis internode), along with fragments of burnt or fired clay. Two additional (unrelated) undated post-holes were recorded in a trench to the south-east.
Other discrete features included a pit in the south-east corner of the site that produced two post-medieval roof tile fragments. An unstratified lead object of uncertain function was the only other potentially post-medieval object recovered.
A particularly large probable quarry pit partially exposed in the north-west corner of site is of uncertain date, having produced only a single sherd of medieval pottery and several fragments of fired clay.
North-to-south and east-to-west aligned ditches at the eastern end of the site were also undated, although their alignments suggest that they were probably associated with a medieval or later phase of activity.
See report (S1) for further details.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.251).
P. Watkins (HES), 23 March 2021.

August 2015. Excavation.
This final phase of work saw the excavation of three separate areas, each of which targeted specific features revealed by the preceding trial trenching. These were the possible cobbled surface, the main cluster of post-holes and the possible prehistoric pit and its adjacent post-holes (Areas A-C respectively). This phase of work revealed significant remains, although not exactly what was anticipated based on the result of the earlier trenching. Most notably the flints regarded as a cobbled surface during the earlier work were actually found to be a dump of stones within a substantial quarry pit that took up at least half of the excavated area. It is possible that these represented a coarse fraction that had been deliberately removed from the extracted material. Another large quarry pit lay to the east of this feature. Only one additional post-hole was found to be associated with the previously identified cluster in the central part of the site so it is unlikely that these were part of a substantial structure. The possible prehistoric pit was found to be part of a cluster of pits and natural features of probable Late Saxon. There were no additional post-holes at this location and what had appeared to be an east-to-west aligned ditch was also shown to be a discrete geological feature.
The excavation also demonstrated that sustained activity on the site had begun in the Late Saxon and continued into the late medieval period. Activity prior to the 10th century was though limited to a small number of undiagnostic prehistoric worked flints, a Roman tegula roof tile and a possible Roman tile fragment. Evidence for post-medieval activity was similarly limited
Although much of the Late Saxon pottery was clearly residual in later contexts there were a number of features that potentially date to this phase of activity, the majority in excavation Areas B and C. The most convincingly dated (producing 16 Thetford-type ware sherds) was actually the single additional post-hole found adjacent to the previously identified cluster, suggesting this group of features was probably Late Saxon in date. A similar quantity of Late Saxon pottery was also recovered from one of a pair of pits in Area C. A number of otherwise undated features in these excavation areas produced small quantities of Late Saxon pottery, including another post-hole and a probable ditch in Area B, and two probable natural features adjacent to the pits in Area C. Although the site produced a small amount of early medieval pottery this was all clearly residual within later deposits.
Features of probable medieval date were mostly located in Area A and included the two large quarry pits and a cluster of fairly unremarkable smaller pits. A single pit in Area B to the south-east was also medieval. The two quarry pits both produced large amounts of medieval pottery along with small numbers of residual Late Saxon and early medieval sherds. Most of their fills also produced at least some late medieval pottery, suggesting these features were probably still open in at least the later 14th century. Other finds from these pits included the bulk of the lava quern fragments recovered; a probable fragment of millstone grit stone; a medieval roof tile; numerous iron nails and a fragment of post-medieval clay tobacco pipe (presumably intrusive). The bulk of the animal bone recovered from the site also came from these features, the majority from the eastern pit. One of the more interesting pieces was a crane bone that displayed evidence of butchery and cooking.
A layer sealing the eastern pit appeared to comprise a dump of late medieval domestic debris, containing a significant quantity of ‘late medieval and transitional (LMT)’ pottery along with several other object of probable 14th- to 15th-centruy date, including a dress pin, iron horseshoes, iron buckle and several estuarine clay bricks. It is notable that several of the bricks are of a type rarely found on rural sites, possibly indicating that at least some of this material was derived from the moated manorial site to the south (NHER 12445). This deposit also produced a quantity of animal bone and two oyster shells.
The small number of undated features included a roughly north-to-south aligned ditch cut by one of the quarry pits in Area A, and post-holes in Areas A and B.
A range of unstratified finds were recovered from the three excavation areas, including small quantities of Late Saxon, medieval, medieval/post-medieval, post-medieval and post-medieval/modern pottery sherds; medieval bricks; a Late Saxon or medieval Norwegian schist hone; lava quern fragments; a small possible clay mound (perhaps for a mount or similar), a post-medieval roof tile; a post-medieval clay tobacco pipe stem fragment; animal bones; post-medieval coins and a range of Late Saxon to modern metal objects. These metal finds included a Late Saxon openwork stirrup mount; a medieval lead pot mend; post-medieval buttons, iron tacks and lead shot; late post-medieval/modern suspension rings and an undatable lead weight and fragments of lead waste.
Information from draft report. Final version awaited.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2018.74).
P. Watkins (HES), 23 March 2021.

April 2025. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site to south of previously investigated area.
The ten trenches excavated revealed several ditches and a pit - all of which were of uncertain date.
The ditches were all encountered in the western half of the area examined and were mostly aligned roughly east-to-west. Although dating evidence was limited to a small number of Roman pottery sherds, these features were probably associated with later phases of activity – their cuts being visible within the subsoil layer and the pottery being severely abraded. Other finds were limited to a small assemblage of animal bone.
The single pit uncovered was a undated shallow feature at the eastern edge of the site with a dark primary fill and intermittent heat scorching around its margins. This pit appears to have been very similar to features seen elsewhere that are now thought to represent the traces of small-scale Saxon and medieval charcoal production. This suggestion is supported by the fact that a sample taken from its primary fill was found to contain only abundant charcoal.
No unstratified finds were recovered.
See report (S2) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 7 August 2025.