NHER 64859 (Monument record) - ?Late Saxon and undated features

July 2019. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
The four trenches excavated revealed a small number of archaeologically-significant linear features and a single post-hole, all of which lay in the western half of the site. Here there was a intact subsoil layer and no evidence for significant recent disturbance. The situation was markedly different in the eastern half of the site, where the ground had been terraced to facilitate its previous use as allotments. This had clearly resulted in significant truncation, with the original soil layers entirely removed from the affected area, leaving a redeposited topsoil layer lying directly above natural geological deposits. The only features observed in this part of the site were large pits of relatively recent date.
The post-hole produced a single sherd of Late Saxon pottery and a similar sherd was also recovered from above an otherwise undated east-to-west aligned ditch recorded to the east. The other linear features identified in this part of the site included two undated, parallel north-west to south-east aligned gullies and an east-to-west aligned feature interpreted as a possible plough furrow.
The features exposed in the disturbed part of the site to the east included a group of intercut probable gravel extraction pits that produced two sherds of late post-medieval/modern pottery and undated fragments of ceramic building material and daub. A much larger modern pit filled with burnt material lay to the south.
No other unstratified finds were recovered.
See report (S1) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2019.260).
P. Watkins (HES), 14 April 2021. Amended 9 December 2022.