NHER 68406 (Monument record) - Undated and potentially medieval to post-medieval remains

July-September 2020 and January 2024. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with conversion of three 19th-century barns to residential dwellings.
Only a handful of features were noted during the excavation of various service trenches and soakaways. It was clear that there had been much previous redistribution of soils across the site and the topsoil contained significant quantities of brick – all likely to represent disturbance that occurred during the demolition of a farmhouse known as The Rectory during the 1950s (originally the Prior’s Manor House - see NHER 14546). Although little pottery was recovered, many of the deposits recorded could be identified as being relatively recent due to the presence of 'late' brick fragments of 18th- to 20th-century date.
The small number of potentially earlier features included several pits, although these were mostly undated – finds being limited to a single Late Saxon/medieval pottery sherd. Of particular interest was a feature in in the north-west part of the site that contained heat-affected silty clays, including some material that potentially represented redeposited material from oven-type structures. Further heat-affected deposits were noted immediately to the south of this feature.
Two flint and mortar wall footings were also recorded, including an east-to-west aligned structure immediately to the east of the south-west barn that was potentially medieval in date. A north-to-south aligned wall footing exposed close to the northern edge of the site is though thought to have been most likely contemporary with the 19th-century barn to the south.
See report (S1) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2024.25).
P. Watkins (HES), 31 July 2024. Amended 24 August 2025.