NHER 13946 (Monument record) - Medieval/post medieval chalk mine

August 1949. Casual Find.
A chalk mine was found by mechanical excavator and visited by G. M. Knocker and Bruce-Mitford.
The chamber measured 3.7 x 1.5m (12 x 5ft) and was of uncertain depth as it was full of chalk rubble. The roof of the chamber was (12ft) below ground level and locked tunnels ran off to the north and east. The soil in the chamber contained traces of fire, bones of horse, cat, dog, ox, pig, sheep, and chicken, goose eggshell, marine and land snails, and 16th century glazed pottery. Other shafts and chambers were seen in a narrow trench in the same lane. There were allso marks of metal hammers.
Finds in Thetford Museum.

The trench in which the chalk mine was found was three feet long and machine excavated to a depth of 11ft 6 in. In addition to the first chamber, a second chamber was broken into at the northeast end of the trench. Between the two chambers a vertical shaft was noted in profile, while to the southeast a large pit or shaft cut from the surface was observed. R.L.S. Brice-Mitford has suggested that the mine was used to cut good quality chalk clunch for building, and that the feature at the northeastern end of the trench represents infilling of an open quarry which was initially worked prior to tunnelling along suitable chalk strata.
See (S1) for further details.
H. Hamilton (NLA), 18 August 2008.