NHER 67132 (Negative evidence record) - Site where limited groundworks revealed no archaeologically-significant remains

February 2014. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with installation of new underground sewage storage and pumping station.
An initial ground investigation trench revealed a gravel deposit at a depth of 4.7m below modern ground level, which was probably associated with a silted up channel of the River Glaven. This probable river gravel was overlain by a deep (3.2m thick) layer of dark greenish-grey to dark brown silt clay with a high organic content, which contained some sea shells. This peaty clay is likely to represent material that had gradually accumulated within an estuarine marshland environment. No finds were recovered, although fragments of ceramic building material were apparently noted as coming from this horizon during an earlier geotechnical investigation (at depths of up to 3.50m below modern ground level). Overlying the organic clay was a redeposited topsoil containing fragments of 19th- or 20th-century pattern-printed pottery. A subsequently excavated circular foundation trench was dug to a depth of 2.8m below ground level and revealed little additional information (partly because the internal area collapsed soon after it was opened). A linear feature visible at the top of the deposit sequence appeared to have been backfilled with similar modern debris to that seen elsewhere at this level (including a modern machine-made IBSTOCK red brick). This was likely to be a ditch that was reportedly infilled during the 1970s.
See report (S1) for further details.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.592).
P. Watkins (HES), 27 June 2023.