NHER 68878 (Monument record) - Large hollow or pond containing late medieval waste

April-May 2017. Test Pit.
Excavation of test pit as part of the Norfolk Archaeological Trust's 'Imagined Land' project - a community archaeology project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (Test Pit 6).
This test pit was dug to a depth of 0.9m, at which point waterlogged silt deposits of likely medieval date were encountered, with hand augering indicating that this material was at least 1m in depth. These waterlogged silts are thought to represent the fills of a some kind of large hollow or pond – the presence of which may account for the house's reported history of subsidence issues. An overlying clay-silt deposit containing flecks of charcoal and burnt clay produced pottery of late medieval/early post-medieval date. This was sealed by soils containing post-medieval finds and modern rubble.
Finds recovered included:
5 burnt flints, 24 animal bones, 21 oyster shells, 4 mussel shells and 2 cockle shells.
1 prehistoric flint flake.
1 ?later Bronze Age/Iron Age flint flake, 2 chips, 2 spalls and 2 shatter pieces.
18 medieval pottery sherds and 3 brick fragments.
4 ?medieval iron nails and a piece of iron smelting slag.
37 late medieval/early post-medieval pottery sherds.
2 post-medieval pottery sherds and 5 brick fragments.
1 late post-medieval/modern pottery sherd.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 18 January 2025.