NHER 65071 (Monument) - Post-medieval and undated remains

April 2014. Geophysical Survey.
Geophysical survey of part of large proposed development area (Field 6).
This survey identified a range of anomalies that correspond with various post-medieval features depicted on the Easton tithe map (S1), including the site of a farmhouse and associated outbuildings (Upper Farm), several former field boundaries and an infilled pond. An extensive area of magnetic disturbance covering the site of the farmstead is likely to represent rubble and other debris distributed when these buildings were demolished.
Other potentially archaeologically-significant responses included a group of linear anomalies close to the north-east corner of the site that potentially represent the traces of an enclosure (although it is noted that these anomalies could have relate to cultivation effects or drains).
A linear anomaly running parallel to Bawburgh Road is also likely to represent a former field boundary, although its date is uncertain.
Numerous weak discrete anomalies probably represent naturally silted hollows or variations in topsoil depth.
Information from report uploaded to OASIS. HER copy awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 8 June 2021.

January-February 2022. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of part of proposed development site (Trench 53).
The single trench excavated at the eastern end of this site revealed a possible north-east to south-west aligned ditch which contained a single sherd of handmade pottery of probable Early/Middle Saxon date. Similar pottery was also recovered from several features at the southern end of the field to the east (NHER 61657).
This feature was overlain by a compact gravelly layer that produced a late medieval pottery sherd but was potentially associated with a modern service. Concrete presumed to seal this service was overlain by a deposit that contained several iron nails and a piece of post-medieval clay tobacco pipe stem, along with a piece of modern plastic.
See report (S2) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 28 May 2024.

August-September 2022. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
This phase of work saw the remainder of the site examined, with a total of forty-two additional trenches excavated. These revealed various ditches, pits and other remains, the majority of which were post-medieval in date.
Evidence for earlier activity was limited a single Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age flint flake and a small assemblage of Late Saxon, medieval and late medieval/early post-medieval pottery. The majority of these finds were residual within post-medieval features – the only possible exceptions being two medieval pottery sherds recovered from an otherwise undated north-to-south aligned ditch in the central part of the site. Unsurprisingly, trenches excavated in the southern central part of the site encountered remains associated with the demolished post-medieval farm (Upper Farm). These included a wall footing of rammed chalk and flint cobbles that potentially related to the farmhouse itself. A robber trench and an adjacent chalk floor to the west were probably associated with a group of farm buildings that can be seen on the 19th-century maps. A number of other late post-medieval and modern features and various demolition deposits in this part of the site were also related to this farm.
A number of the ditches encountered also correspond with features shown on the 19th-century maps, including the boundaries of the plots occupied by the farm buildings, and the western and northern boundaries of a field to the east (the latter of which had been identified by the preceding geophysical survey). A pond shown in the north-west corner of this field was also encountered. These various features produced large quantities of post-medieval brick and tile, along with small amounts of post-medieval pottery, fragments of animal bone, iron objects, pieces of window and vessel glass and oyster and cockle shells. Fragments of post-medieval ceramic building material were also recovered from several of the other ditches recorded and two additional large, pond-like features.
The more notable undated features included a small number of scattered pits with charcoal-rich fills, at least one of which had partially heat-scorched margins. Samples taken from their fills were found to contain abundant oak charcoal but little else in the way of plant macrofossils. Similar features have now been encountered at various sites in the Norwich environs and it appears that most were probably associated with small-scale charcoal production during the Saxon and medieval periods.
Other undated features included an east-to-west aligned ditch in the north-east part of the site that corresponds with another of the geophysical anomalies.
See report (S3) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2022.189).
P. Watkins (HES), 19 March 2025.