NHER 39586 (Monument record) - Middle Saxon fish trap on Holme Beach (fish trap III)

Holme fish trap III.

February to March 2003. NAU survey.
A V-shaped structure made up of 180 posts, 52 of which are on a north to south aligned eastern arm, the remaining posts form a northeast to southwest aligned arm.
See (S1)-(S2)
J. Allen (NLA), 29 July 2003.

September 2003. Site visit.
Difficult to identify which posts were which in the western arm due to seaweed and sand.
In the SW 10.5m was a deposit of large shingle and pebbles. At the time I t was thought that this overlay the timbers and had been recently deposited, so concealing many. However, on reflection there is the possibility it is an in situ deposit that has been freshly exposed and, as a result, more timbers were showing. For this to be the case silt would have to have been washed away, meaning that the shingle/pebbles were a deposit within the silt - this would date the deposit, and the monument beneath it, to before the Early Bronze Age. This is unlikely - it is more likely a Saxon fishtrap. The next visit and subsequent dating will give more information on this.
Western arm - the central area of thick wattling seen in July (and noted by [1] and photographed by Simon Bamber in September 2003) was seen.
D. Robertson (NAU), 20 October 2003.

November 2003.
Eastern arm - 106 posts counted along length of eastern arm, more than in July. A second line of posts may be appearing, located parallel, just to the east of the previously recorded line (four of these have been seen so far). If this was the case, the section concerned would be comparable a stretch at the northeastern end of the western arm.
The increased height of the posts suggests that since September there has been erosion. Some posts may have had there tops broken off.
Western arm - At least 150 posts were seen, more than in July. Three areas of wattling observed in July (one of which was seen in November) have been lost. A new piece of wattle (about 0.2m long by 0.03m diamter) was observed to the east of the largest area of wattling seen in July.
D. Robertson (NAU), 8 December 2003.

January/February 2004.
Eastern arm - 85 posts counted along length of eastern arm. Less were visible than in November 2003 because of concealing standing water. Two timbers were sampled for species identification; one of the samples was submitted for radiocarbon dating.
Western arm - At least 150 posts were seen. In the northern half of the western arm more posts were seen than in November 2003, suggesting the tops of more posts have been eroded out from the peat and silt. In the central part of the standing water concealed most posts. In the southern part two new posts were observed. Two further samples were taken fom the western arm for species identification, in addition to the three taken previously. One of these was submitted for radiocarbon dating.
The calibrated radiocarbon dates from the two samples are cal AD 640-810 and cal AD 640-810.
See (S3).
D. Robertson (NLA), 25 May 2006.

January 2006. Casual observations made while bird watching on Holme Beach.
The timber fishtrap and the entire surrounding peat bed were covered in sand. No posts were visible.
D. Robertson (NLA), 23 January 2006.

May 2006.
This fish trap is joined to fish trap I (NHER 38042) to the northeast. It is very likely that the two would have been used in conjunction with each other. The eastern arm of fish trap I was probably continued by an alignment of posts to the south (fish trap V, NHER 38222). Together the three structures form a large fishtrap complex.
Other fish traps are located near by (see NHER 38043 and 37613).
The radiocarbon dates for fishtraps I and V range from Early to Late Saxon in date. The radiocarbon dates for fishtrap III are Middle Saxon and may indicate a firmer date for fish traps I and V. Further details regarding this possibility are awaited from the English Heritage Scientific Dating Centre.
D. Robertson (NLA), 25 May 2006.

For further information on the Holme Beach walkover and monitoring surveys see final report (S4). The archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2010.321).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 11 May 2019.