NHER 66898 (Monument record) - Undated pits

November 2015. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with installation of artificial turf pitch.
These works exposed two undated sub-circular pits with charcoal-rich fills that both contained burnt flints. Neither showed signs of in-situ burning and it is suggested that the charcoal may represent fuel debris from deliberate flint burning. It does though appear that these features were at least superficially similar to pits recorded elsewhere in the Norwich environs that are thought to have been associated with small-scale Saxon and medieval charcoal production. It should also be noted that there were differences between the two pits, as while one produced a large quantity of burnt flint, the other, slightly more substantial feature contained a much smaller quantity. Samples also demonstrated that the latter contained a greater amount of charcoal, all of which appears to be oak - which is typical of material recovered from the probable charcoal pits recorded elsewhere.
See report (S1) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2016.394)
P. Watkins (HES), 15 May 2023.