NHER 69505 (Monument record) - Late Saxon to medieval and undated remains

May 2018. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of site of proposed burial ground extension, car park and garden.
The six trenches excavated revealed numerous pits and ditches of likely Late Saxon to medieval date. There was little evidence for any significant activity on the site prior to this date, earlier finds being limited to a small number of prehistoric flint flakes and a possible Roman tile fragment (all residual in later features).
The presence within the pottery assemblage of both Late Saxon Thetford-type ware and various early medieval wares suggests that the main phase of activity had commenced by the 11th century. Although high medieval pottery was also recovered, the bulk of these wares have date ranges that overlap with those of the earlier medieval pottery. The absence of glazed wares also suggests that activity had significantly reduced at this location during the 13th century, if not before. Potentially the earliest features were a number of pits that produced exclusively Late Saxon pottery, although the quantities were so small it is impossible to say whether these represent a pre-Conquest phase of activity. The bulk of the Late Saxon pottery was recovered from features that also contained early medieval wares, which were themselves mostly recovered from features that also produced high medieval sherds.
Features that could be assigned a broad early to high medieval date included a number of fairly substantial east-to-west and north-east to south-west aligned ditches. These features produced a range of finds including pottery, fragments of fired clay, a possible Late Saxon iron spearhead, a medieval iron rotary key, animal bone, oyster shell and a complete lava millstone or quern. A ditch at the southern end of the site was also found to contain a small amount of fragmentary human bone – from at least one adult and almost certainly derived from the adjacent churchyard of All Saint’s Church (which is believed to have Saxo-Norman or Norman origins – see NHER 11118). Samples taken from several of the ditch fills produced limited assemblages of charred plant macrofossils comprising wheat and barley grains, a small amount of crop processing debris, possible legume fragments and various weed seeds, along with charcoal, fragments of animal bone, fired clay and hammerscale from ironworking - all likely to represent waste from a nearby settlement.
Other remains of medieval date include a cluster of probable extraction pits in the central part of the site, although these contained several brick fragments of 13th- to 15th-century date and were therefore potentially associated with a slightly later phase of activity. One of these features also produced a small amount of fuel ash slag.
There was little evidence for significant late medieval or post-medieval activity on the site. One north-to-south aligned ditch at the eastern edge of the area examined was found to contain a post-medieval pottery sherd and a post-medieval roof tile fragment, although it is thought these were potentially intrusive. It is therefore likely that the majority of the undated remains were associated with the main earlier medieval phase of activity. These included a number of pits and post-holes, several additional ditches and a mortar surface that potentially represented a floor associated with some form of building.
Unstratified finds included a potentially medieval brick fragment, post-medieval brick and roof tile fragments and animal bone.
See report (S1) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2018.85).
P. Watkins (HES), 8 October 2025.