NHER 66629 (Monument record) - Post-medieval remains

February 2021-April 2022. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with construction of two single storey extensions and carport at Wacton House (NHER 10078).
These works exposed a small number of post-medieval features, all of which were probably contemporary with the 17th- to 19th-century phases of Wacton House. These included a pit containing 17th- to 18th-century refuse and a small waterlogged pit or sump-like feature fed by a clay drain that appeared to predate the 19th-century additions to the house. A number of timber posts recorded at the vicinity of the latter were probably associated with a former outbuilding. A brick-lined well was also exposed, which is marked on the Ordnance Survey First Edition 25-inch map (S1).
It was clear that much of the site had been truncated by previous landscaping and construction, with subsoil only surviving in one area. A small number of post-medieval finds were recovered from this deposit, including two coins, a token, pottery sherds, a pistol shot, a button and a shoe buckle. A number of these objects were of probable 17th-century date and therefore contemporary with the earliest phases of Wacton House. Two pottery sherds of 15th/16th-century date were the only evidence for earlier activity on the site.
See report (S2) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 20 December 2022.