NHER 20653 (Monument record) - Neolithic or Early Bronze Age site, site of Middle and Late Saxon settlement and multi-period finds

1979 and 1983. Field walking. Field Great Fransham 228. Varying conditions.
Large numbers of finds.
Some Iron Age pottery, Ipswich ware, Thetford type ware and medieval wares including Grimston and early medieval; post medieval wares including stonewares, glazed red eathenwares. Roman sherds.
Flints including barbed and tanged arrowhead.
Lava quern fragments.
See (S1).
Found and identified by A. Rogerson (NAU)
E. Rose (NAU) 10 September 1987.

1987. Field walking.
Further finds, same categories.
Ipswich ware plotted in detail.
Also Beaker sherd, possible Early Saxon sherd.
See (S1)
E. Rose (NAU) 5 August 1987.

November/December 1989. Field walking and metal detecting.
Restricted area along north edge of site.
No significant finds apart from plain lead spindle whorl, date uncertain.
Context 7, casually collected sherds.
See (S1).
A. Rogerson (NLA), March 1992.

(S2) states that this is the only Middle Saxon site in Fransham. The settlement developed from the 7th century as a small, nucleated linear village, surrounded by arable fields. During the Late Saxon period, the settlement seems to have expanded, and was one of the two main centres of settlement in the parish in the Late Saxon period, both of which had been abandoned by about 1100.
See (S2) and NHER 20651.
S. Spooner (NLA) 14 December 2005.

September-October 2006. Metal-detecting.
1 Middle/Late Saxon strap-end.
Identified by S. Ashley (NLA). See description in file.
A. Rogerson (NLA), 23 November 2006.
Updated by J. Page (HES), 11 March 2014.