NHER 37513 (Monument record) - Saxon or medieval ditch, medieval pits, Brandon Lane

December 2002. Trial Trenching.
Seven trenches were excavated. Contexts 1-79.
Potentially the earliest archaeological feature found on the site was a ditch which may have been Saxon or medieval in date. One medieval pit and another possible medieval pit were also excavated. The medieval pit had a physical relationship with a probable buried topsoil or land surface which contained one piece of possible Saxon pottery. A post-hole and a curvilinear gully cut through this. They may have been associated with a post-hole located close by.
A fluvial sand was found beneath the probable buried topsoil. This was laid down during periods of flood or high discharge from the stream to the east of the site. In two trenches a dark brown or black organic sand was found beneath this deposit. It was probably a buried soil that had accumulated over time, probably through natural soil formation processes and periodic flooding from the stream.
In one trench the fluvial deposits were interleaved with sand and silt deposits. These may be comparable with the interleaved dark loams and coloured sands encountered in another trench. The lamination of these deposits suggested that they were all fluvial in origin, again probably associated with the stream to the east of the site. A post-medieval ditch and pit cut through the laminated deposits, along with an undated gully.
A range of post-Roman finds were recovered, including pottery, ceramic building material and a small number of metal objects. Thirteen residual prehistoric flints were also recovered, a small number of which were soft-hammer struck pieces of possible Mesolithic or Early Neolithic date.
See reports (S1) and (S2) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S3).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2018.185).
M. Horlock (NLA), 14 February 2002. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 28 May 2013 and April 2019.