NHER 33750 (Monument record) - ?Medieval pits

January-March 1998. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with installation of sewer main.
Three small pits were exposed in this field, two of which produced small numbers of medieval pottery sherds and burnt flints.
The initial stripping also exposed several amorphous patches of darker soil that appeared to run across the pipe route from north to south. It was not possible to defined these patches and their depth could not be determined during the subsequent excavation of the pipe trench itself.
Unstratified finds recovered in this area included an iron decorative vessel handle of uncertain date that was found during metal-detecting of the hedgeline at the western edge of the field.
See report (S1) and correspondence in file for further details.
It should be noted that the late 19th-century 1st Edition Ordnance survey map shows approximately two thirds of this site to be covered by a plantation call 'White Wood'. The presence and subsequent removal of these trees could well account for the more ephemeral features observed during this watching brief.
E. Rose (NLA) 5 August 1998. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 17 June 2019.

The features at this site were the only sub-surface remains recorded during the 1998 watching brief. Previously this record also detailed the limited number of unstatified finds that were recovered elsewhere along the pipe route, the majority of which do not appear to have been accurately located. Those for which an approximate location can be determined from either the report or subsequent correspondence between NLA and the author (see file) are now recorded separately (a Late Saxon pottery sherd at the western end of the pipe route as NHER 63459 and material found at its eastern end under NHER 63459). It should however be noted that the report also mentions a sparse scatter of Roman, medieval and post-medieval pottery sherds, the exact nature and distribution of which is not recorded. It is though noted that the majority of the sherds recovered were post-medieval in date.
P. Watkins (HES), 17 June 2019.

May 2017. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometer survey of proposed development site to west of Norwich Northern Distributor Road (Areas 1 and 2).
No anomalies of obvious archaeological significance were identified.
Although a small number of fragmentary linear trends could represent ditches, these anomalies were most likely the result of agricultural practices or other modern activity.
Large parts of the areas examined were affected by magnetic disturbance of a kind typically associated with 'made ground', where imported material has been spread across fields. This disturbance most likely occurred during or after World War Two, when this area was occupied by a series of satellite domestic sites associated with Rackheath airfield (NHER 50740).
See report (S2) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 16 June 2019.

May 2017. Desk-based Assessment.
Assessment of proposed development area.
Details awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 16 June 2019.