NHER 66883 (Monument record) - Potentially prehistoric and undated features

November 2016. Desk-based Assessment.
Assessment of proposed development site.
No features of historical or archaeological significant were noted during a brief site visit undertaken as part of this study.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 5 May 2023.

October 2017. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
The 19 trenches excavated revealed a single ditch and three scattered discrete features. The most notable was an irregular pit in the south-east corner of the site, the charcoal-rich upper fill of which produced four sherds of undiagnostic prehistoric pottery and a large number of burnt flints. Samples taken from the fills of this feature contained abundant charcoal but little else in the way of charred plant macrofossils. Another irregular pit to the north of this feature also had a particularly charcoal rich fill but produced no dating evidence.
The ditch was a north-east to south-west aligned feature encountered in two trenches in the western half of the site. Dating evidence was limited to two adjoining sherds of prehistoric pottery in a similar fabric to those from the pit. Although it is far from certain that this was a prehistoric feature, its alignment (which is notably different from those of the surrounding field boundaries) and the fact that its cut was not visible within the subsoil layer both support it being of some age. Samples taken from its fills were also found to contain frequent charcoal fragments, along with small pieces of animal bone.
See report (S2) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 6 May 2023.