NHER 33256 (Monument record) - Roman to medieval activity in West Hall Paddock

1996. Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project test pitting, resistivity survey and excavation.
Four trenches excavated.
Trenches 1 and 2 revealed deep occupation deposits (pot, bone and shell) and also a peaty deposit containing preserved plant remains. Trench 3 yielded a wall with collapsed painted plaster and a cobbled surface to its north. Trench 4 was abandoned due to time restrictions. The wall represents a collapsed structure, the surface perhaps a track and the pottery suggest Saxo-Norman to later medieval dates.
Two resistivity surveys were conducted.
The high density survey in the paddock revealed a complex structure beneath the soil: the road/wall (before excavation), large rectangular features and distinct wetter 'pits'. Two higher conductivity areas astride the road/wall may suggest a gateway. All of the above possibly relates to the medieval manor complex, while the survey east of the farm showed a linear feature whose width, position and gradient suggest the southern arm of the moat.
See (S1) and (S2).
M. Dennis (NLA) 7 August 2006.

1997. Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project. Open Area Excavation.
Two excavation sites opened.
Site B abandoned during initial stages of excavation.
Site A revealed a complex sequence of deposits centred on a substantial 1m wide chalk wall of which 11m was exposed. This was butted to the west by a sequence of superimposed cobbled surfaces, mortar and soil deposits. A preliminary interpretation is that the paddock was part of an earlier river course or marsh that was reclaimed in the medieval period when a large high-status structure was built (possibly associated with the manor complex). The longevity of the structure led to several phases of flooring and after its abandonment a post medieval feature of uncertain function was dug adjacent to it. This feature may have been dug to provide soil for the landscaping of the Victorian vicarage gardens.
See (S3) and (S4) [1].
M. Dennis (NLA), 10 August 2006.

1998. Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project. Open Area Excavation.
Presumed area of the medieval manor complex. Excavation of trenches A and B resumed.
Reinterpretation of the chalk wall in trench A is now thought to be a boundary wall. Associated finds and documentary evidence suggest a 13th century date. The sequence of cobbled surfaces butting the wall are reinterpreted as a footpath which appears to lead to the south end of the churchyard. West of the cobbles, and associated with them are a sequence of boundaries. A north to south ditch was replaced by a fence and then another wall dated to around 1400. This wall possibly divided the Benedictine priory Manor from that of the de Sedgefords. Evidence for activity prior to the 13th century included a foundation for a possible structure or wall which lay below 13th century level and a large cut feature.
See (S5) and (S6).
M. Dennis (NLA), 10 August 2006.

1999. Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project. Open Area Excavation.
Area A.
A complex series of at least five main periods some with several phases. This boundary system was the meeting of the manorial lands of the priory manor and that of the local gentry, the de Sedgefords, whose manor house may have been located in the adjacent Dovecote Piece. A floor was revealed cut by a posthole and a grave. The floor may be that of a small chapel associated with than early manor complex. The burial may be Saxo-Norman in date. The female suffered from severe scioliosis (spine curvature) and had a deformed leg. The context of the burial raises the possibility that she was a woman of religion or high status. Beneath this was a layer of peat representing a time when the area was marshy. This sealed two Roman layers cut by a small drainage channel that contained large dressed flints.
See (S7) and (S8).
M. Dennis (NLA), 10 August 2006.

2000. Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project. Excavation.
Completion of five years excavation. Confirmed 1999 interpretations of a complex medieval boundary system preceded by a probably chapel belonging to an earlier medieval manor complex referred to in Domesday Book. Date confirmed by radiocarbon dating of skeleton excavated in 1999. A second grave cut in the chapel floor was investigated but appears to have been disturbed in the late medieval period. Late Saxon remains have been disturbed by later burials and boundary system. There was clear evidence of a rammed chalk surface. The area seems to have been in use from the Late Saxon until the modern period. Prior to this the land was heavily waterlogged. Romans appeared to have tried to drain that land with a series of gullies and a ditch but failed.
See (S9) and (S10).
M. Dennis (NLA), 11 August 2006.

The 1996 to 2000 evaluation and excavation programme revealed little evidence of prehistoric activity due to the depth of the stratified deposits and waterlogging on the site, which meant excavation down to natural deposits was not possible. There is still the potential for prehistoric deposits within the area as suggested by residual Late Iron Age pottery and occasional finds of flint implements and excavations nearby in 2003 revealed several Late Iron Age ditches and post-holes containing prehistoric tools and debitage. The area to the south-east of the site known as Boneyard Field also revealed cut features of Iron Age date and a significant assemblage of Iron Age pottery and flint tools including microliths.
Evidence for Romano-British activity on the site was limited and included drainage ditches and gullies with finds of pottery and animal bone.
The inundation of the site from the late Romano-British period onwards is likely to have rendered the site uninhabitable until there is evidence for dumping in the eastern area of the site in the Saxon period from the 8th century and there were finds of Thetford-type wares dating from the 9th to 11th century. It is possible that the reclamation of the site was caused by damming the river, as suggested by the flooding of the Reeddam area, and could have influenced the shift in settlement focus from south of the river to the north.
The Middle to Late Saxon settlement located in the Boneyard (NHER 1609) and Chalkpit Field (NHER 49011) area was associated with a Christian inhumation cemetery and there are indications that the settlement underwent changes possibly associated with ecclesiastical foundations and the establishment of a hierarchical society with an economy based on wool production. By the mid 9th century the cemetery went out of use and the economic focus appears to have shifted to cattle farming with supplementary hunting of wild animals.
During the transitional Saxon-Norman period the only evidence for activity in this area is the occasional shallow cut feature and the south-eastern corner of the Paddock appears to have become the focus of dumping and waste disposal. There is possible evidence for a structure in the form of iron-rich sand possibly forming a hard standing and also a floor surface but there is no evidence for walls or wall foundations but there is a spread of medium sized flint appearing to radiate from the mortar and flint floor. The presence of grave cutting the floor surface arranged regularly along its eastern edge aligned east-west at right angles suggests that the possible function of this structure was as a mortuary chapel or small church and a skeleton from this feature produced a radiocarbon date between the 10th and 11th century. It is possible that the St Mary the Virgin Church was a successor to this smaller chapel/church which is likely to have gone out of use by the late 11th or early 12th century.
From the medieval period and the 12th to 13th century activity in this area is resumed and a boundary wall containing unglazed Grimston-type ware was erected running at least from the edge of the churchyard southwards towards the river and it is possible that this is contemporary with ownership changes or the consolidation or reorganisation of the manorial lands when administration passed to Norwich cathedral priory. A metalled pathway was also encountered following the line of the wall which is referred to in documentary sources as Church Lane.
By 1424 the priory's land in Sedgeford decreased and there was a downturn in prosperity and there is some evidence during this period that boundaries and the moats may have fallen into disrepair but this is later reversed when a new chalk wall is built along the western edge of the path enclosing it within the priory manors lands.
There was less activity during the modern period with the accumulation of waste deposits in the 17th and 18th centuries.
See (S11).
S. Howard (HES), 10 June 2011.

30 July 2012.
Reburial of one box of disarticulated human remains in a 1m squared pit excavated within the backfill of the 1997-2000 Area A Excavation Trench.
A. Beckham (HES), 31 July 2012.