NHER 65269 (Monument) - Potentially Late Saxon/early medieval and undated features

July 2015. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with construction of new outbuilding.
The foundation trenches excavated revealed a relatively deep, undisturbed subsoil deposit, with the underlying natural sands only revealed at the western end of building footprint. A number of what appeared to be intercutting discrete features were identified in this area, although only limited excavation was possible. A large sherd of Late Saxon pottery was recovered from one of these probable pits, along with a fragment of animal bone and an oyster shell. The fill of one feature was overlain by a small oval patch of redeposited pale orange clay, interpreted as possibly the base of a small oven or similar feature.
The unstratified finds recovered included an early medieval pottery sherd, two fragments of fired clay (potentially from a hearth or oven), an animal bone with a finely sawn end (indicative of a relatively recent date) and oyster shells.
See report (S1) for further details and NHER 65268 for information on a rare World War Two Norcon pillbox discovered adjacent to the site during this work.
P. Watkins (HES), 11 January 2022.