NHER 41906 (Monument record) - Post-medieval or modern pits at Witard Road Baptist Church

August 2005. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site. Five trenches excavated. Contexts 1-9.
Three shallow, charcoal-rich pits were identifed. No dating evidence was recovered from these features, which were most likely associated with post-medieval activity.
See report (S1) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S2).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2008.66).
J. Allen (NLA), 28 July 2005. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 16 July 2015.

March-April 2009. Strip Map and Sample Excavation and Watching Brief.
Work undertaken during development of site. Contexts 10-11.
A number of finds, including post-medieval metalwork, ceramic building material, pottery and a possible Roman coin were recovered from the stripped soil. Two charcoal-rich pits of unknown date were observed during the excavation of foundation and service trenches. The pits were quite far apart and may not be contemporary, althought their fills were similar in composition. The pits showed evidence for in-situ burning or scorching and were similar to the features observed during the 2005 evaluation. Although it has been suggested that these features were in some way related to the possible Roman cremation burial previous found on the site (NHER 9630) there is no evidence to suggest that this was the case. It is perhaps more likely that these pits were associated with activity that was taking place on Mousehold Heath in much more recent times. It should be noted that these features are very similar to examples found elsewhere that have been tentatively intepreted as associated with charcoal production.
See report (S3) for further details.
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2016.123).
S. Howard (NLA), 30 April 2010. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 16 July 2015 and 21 June 2019.