NHER 66843 (Monument record) - Potentially medieval or earlier features and Late Saxon to medieval finds

March 2016. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with construction of new agricultural storage building and associated access road.
Two soakaway trenches were excavated, one of which revealed what was probably evidence for medieval activity at the site. A corner of a pit was exposed, the fill of which produced two medieval pottery sherds. This pit truncated two shallow features, one of which was associated with an area of reddened natural clay and patches of charcoal, suggesting it may have been some of heath. Other patches of heat-reddened clay noted nearby may have also been associated with similar features, particular as several fragments of fired clay likely to represent pieces of hearth or furnace base were recovered from the overlying subsoil. A fragment of possible copper ore was also collected from the same horizon, suggesting the remains encountered were potentially associated with metal working of some kind.
The groundworks elsewhere on the site were much shallower and did not penetrate beneath the base of the subsoil layer. The stripping of a new hardstanding area did though reveal several patches of shell waste within the subsoil. These were no more than 0.1m in depth and comprised much degraded cockle and mussel shells along with a few whelk shells. Two fragments of medieval pottery were collected from one of these probable midden deposits.
Unstratified finds recovered included a single sherd of Late Saxon pottery and a Late Saxon hooked tag, suggesting the site had seen activity from the 11th century onwards. A small assemblage of predominantly high medieval pottery was also recovered.
Information from draft report. Final version awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 2 April 2023.