NHER 41936 (Monument record) - Prehistoric, Roman, post-medieval and undated remains

August 2005. Systematic Fieldwalking and Metal-detecting Survey.
Field survey of proposed development site:
92 prehistoric worked flints, a small number of blades and blade-like flakes of possible later Mesolithic or earlier Neolithic date. Other, mostly later pieces include several knives/scrapers, a borer/point and a possible leaf-shaped arrowhead.
6 potentially prehistoric burnt flints.
1 probable Iron Age coin (copper ally disc identified a potentially a 1st century BC potin).
4 Roman pottery sherds.
2 medieval coins.
Medieval/post-medieval copper alloy ring, copper alloy unidentified object and lead weight.
Post medieval pottery sherds, brick and tile fragment, glass, clay tobacco pipe stem fragments, 4 coins, 2 tokens and various other metal objects, including buckles, buttons, studs, a furniture mount, ferrule and lead shot.
Post-medieval/modern metal objects, including a button, rule or measure, whistle, thimble and lead bag seals.
Although intensive additional metal-detecting took place around the find spot of the possible Iron Age coin nothing else of this date was recovered.
See report (S1) for further details.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 9 September 2026.

November 2005. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site. Contexts 1-59.
The 33 trenches excavated revealed a number of pits and ditches, at least some of which were potentially associated with prehistoric and Roman phases of activity.
The majority of the pits recorded were exposed within two trenches at the western end of the site. These included an oval feature that contained a small amount of Neolithic flint-working waste and a roe deer antler. Three other pits in the same trench had similar fills and were therefore also potentially prehistoric, although they produced no finds. A tighter cluster of pits in an adjacent trench was potentially associated with later activity - finds from this group being limited to a single Roman pottery sherd. Samples taken from two of the pits in this group both produced charred wheat grains. The limited other evidence for Roman activity included a second pottery sherd recovered from an otherwise undated north-east to south-west aligned ditch at the eastern end of the site.
Two north-north-east to south-south-west aligned ditches in the eastern half of the site produced a range of post-medieval finds, along with pieces of coal and mussel shells. A perpendicular ditch to the west produced a late medieval pottery sherd but this was most likely residual - the orientation of this feature and the presence of coal fragments suggesting it was also probably also post-medieval. It is suggested that an undated pit at the eastern end of the site was also potentially post-medieval, its fills being similar to the ditches of this date.
Undated features included several west-north-west to east-south-east and north-north-east to south-south-west aligned ditches at the western end of the site.
Unstratified finds included a Mesolithic/Early Neolithic flint blade core; a small number of Neolithic and undatable prehistoric flint flakes; a Roman pottery sherd; a medieval coin, buckle and copper alloy seal matrix; 2 post-medieval coins, a token, 6 buttons, 2 buckles, a pipe tamper and unidentified copper alloy object; a late post-medieval/modern badge or mount fragment and thimble and a piece of undatable copper alloy casting waste.
See report (S1) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S2).
J. Allen (NLA), 17 February 2006. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 9 September 2026.

September-October 2006. Strip Map and Sample Excavation.
Excavation of area at western end of site, ahead of mineral extraction.
This excavation uncovered a range of discrete features, the majority of which had probable been associated with prehistoric phases of activity. These included a cluster of four probable tree-throw hollows that produced Early Neolithic pottery and worked flints likely to be of a similar age. The bulk of the pottery (62 sherds) was recovered from one of the features, with the others in the group producing only single sherds. Small amounts of Early Neolithic pottery were also recovered from a pit and another natural feature elsewhere in the excavated area. Two reasonably substantial pits of probable Bronze Age date were also recorded, one of which contained sherds from an Early Bronze Age collared urn and the other sherds from a Middle Bronze Age Deverel-Rimbury urn. Both also contained small amounts of animal bone but samples taken from their fills produced little in the way of charred plant macrofossils or other material. Scattered smaller, circular pits were also potentially prehistoric, although finds were limited to a small number of Neolithic worked flints. Samples from two of these pits did though both produce hazel nutshell fragments, which are typically found in prehistoric features. A small number of probable Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age pottery sherds were also recovered, although these were all probably residual within later contexts. A moderate number of additional prehistoric worked flints were also recovered from later features and unstratified contexts (including a colluvial deposit at the southern edge of the site). These are predominantly of probable Neolithic date, although a small number of later pieces are also present, including a Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age thumbnail scraper and crude retouched implements and flakes of likely Middle Bronze Age or date.
Several ditches were recorded, three of which corresponded with undated features identified during the preceding trial trenching. These included a west-north-west to east-south-east aligned feature that produced 26 Roman pottery sherds. A smaller amount of Roman pottery was also recovered from an adjacent north-north-east to south-south-west aligned feature. A third ditch, aligned north-west to south-east is also thought to have been Roman in date, although finds were limited to a small number of prehistoric pottery sherds.
Removal of the colluvial deposit at the southern edge of the site exposed three parallel north-to-south aligned features interpreted as medieval furrows. A perpendicular ditch in this part of the site that appeared to post-date the furrows produced a single medieval pottery sherd and another was recovered from an adjacent pit. A probable post-medieval pit or quarry was noted in the south-west corner of the site.
Other unstratified finds included a Roman pottery sherd; Roman, medieval and post-medieval coins; medieval to post-medieval jettons; a post-medieval token and a range of other, medieval, medieval/post-medieval, post-medieval and post-medieval/modern metal objects.
See report (S3) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S4).
J. Allen (NLA), 4 July 2007.

July 2012. Strip Map and Sample Excavation.
Excavation of southern half of strip immediately to east of area investigated in 2006.
Details on this work are awaited, although according to (S5) a preliminary plan suggests that a ring-ditch was identified, along with north-to-south and east-to-west aligned ditches.
An archive associated with this phase of work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.157).
P. Watkins (HES), 9 February 2017. Amended 19 May 2019.

October 2016. Strip Map and Sample Excavation.
Excavation of site of pond in eastern half of site.
Details awaited.
An archive associated with this phase of work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.356).
P. Watkins (HES), 27 May 2019.

September 2019. Strip Map and Sample Excavation.
Excavation of area immediately to north of area investigated in 2012.
This phase of work exposed a number of linear and discrete features, although the majority produced no dating evidence. The one exception was an isolated pit that contained a Middle Iron Age pottery sherd and a single fragment of animal bone.
The undated remains included a group of adjoining, relatively shallow east-to-west and north-to-south aligned ditches that appeared to form the northern, western and southern sides of a small rectilinear enclosure. Several linear arrangements of post-holes were identified in the vicinity of the apparently open eastern side of this enclosure. These potentially represented the remains of fences or other structures associated with agricultural activity – most likely livestock management. These remains lay a little way to the west of an extensive north-to-south aligned ditch that had first been identified during the initial trial trenching.
Unstratified finds included single Middle Iron Age and medieval pottery sherds, a post-medieval coin, a post-medieval/modern horseshoe and undatable iron nails and lead waste.
See report (S5) for further details.
An archive associated with this phase of work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2020.43).
P. Watkins (HES), 9 September 2026.

September 2021. Strip Map and Sample Excavation.
Excavation of block to east of areas investigated in 2012 and 2019.
A number of ditches were revealed in the southern half of the stripped area, including three adjoining north-east to south-west and north-west to south-east aligned ditches that appeared to form three sides of a small rectilinear enclosure. Two short linear arrangements of post-holes were noted in the vicinity of this enclosure's open, northern side. Finds from the enclosure ditches were limited to a single Roman pottery sherd, a post-medieval horseshoe nail and an undatable iron nail. These remains lay immediately to the south of an east-to-west aligned ditch which also produced a single Roman pottery sherd, along with several iron nails. There was a large gap in this ditch close to the enclosure but it is unclear it this was a genuine entrance or simply the result of truncation.
Information from draft report.
P. Watkins (HES), 9 September 2026.

February 2023. Strip Map and Sample Excavation.
Excavation of block at eastern end of site, immediately to east of area investigated in 2021.
Two pits were recorded, at least one of which was potentially prehistoric - this being found to contain a single grog-tempered pottery sherd of probable Early Bronze Age date. A sample taken from its fill produced a single charred cereal grain and a small amount of charcoal, including fragments identifiable as heather.
Four ditches were also recorded, the most notable of which was a somewhat sinuous north-east to south-west aligned feature that was found to contain a Late Iron Age/Early Roman pottery sherd, a Roman coin and a presumably intrusive post-medieval lead window came fragment. Two north-north-east to south-south-west aligned ditches were post-medieval features that had been identified by the initial trial trenching and a perpendicular west-north-west to east-south-east aligned feature was probably of a similarly-recent date. Finds from these features included a medieval fiddle key nail and the iron blade from a post-medieval spade.
The small number of unstratified finds recovered included a possible post-medieval token and a post-medieval lead window came.
Information from draft report.
P. Watkins (HES), 9 September 2026.