NHER 49758 (Monument record) - Multi-period discoveries including potentially Bronze Age enclosure, Bronze Age round barrow or medieval windmill mound and Roman farmstead

2004-2005. Desk-based Assessment.
Assessment of proposed line of Norwich Northern Distributor Road.
See reports (S1) and (S2) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 28 July 2015.

December 2006-January 2007. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometer surveys on proposed line of Norwich Northern Distributor Road (Areas 3, 4 and 5).
These surveys revealed a number of anomalies that potentially represent archaeologically significant remains. These include a probable ring-ditch towards the centre of the southern field that was subsequently also identified as a cropmark on aerial photographs of the site (NHER 52036). This ring-ditch was approximately 20m in diameter and there was also possibly evidence for a pit-like feature at its centre.
Straight linear anomalies likely to represent ditches were also identified in both fields. These included reasonably strong perpendicular north-to-south and east-to-east aligned anomalies in the southern field that cropmark evidence now suggests represent the western and southern sides of a rectilinear enclosure (NHER 52037). North-to-south and north-west to south-east aligned linear anomalies in the northern field also appear to correspond with subsequently mapped cropmark features (these being amongst the features recorded as NHER 52038).
A number of discrete positive anomalies were also identified, including several quite large examples in the southern field.
See report (S3) for further details.
Survey of northern field previously recorded under NHER 50504.
A. Cattermole (NLA), 18 September 2009. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 18 March 2018.

October 2007. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of site on proposed line of Norwich Northern Distributor Road (Phase 2).
Three trenches were excavated in the southern field in order to investigate several potentially archaeologically significant geophysical anomalies, including the probable ring ditch (NHER 52036).
The first trench targeted the western side of the probable rectilinear enclosure (NHER 52036) at the northern end of the field. A large corresponding ditch was identified, although unfortunately no dating evidence was recovered. It was suggested that the form of the enclosure made a prehistoric or Roman date likely.
The second trench was positioned to investigate the eastern side of the ring-ditch and the possible feature at its centre. The ring-ditch was found be well preserved, being 5.7m wide and surviving to a depth of over 2m. Several medieval pottery sherds were recovered from the upper fill of the ditch, although it is possible that this material was incorporated long after it was first dug. As suggested by the geophysical survey a substantial feature was present on the inside of the ring-ditch, although its nature remains somewhat uncertain. It was around 1m deep and contained a number of fills that appeared to represent deliberate backfilling. These deposits produced medieval pottery sherds, lava quern fragments and a whetstone, suggesting that this feature may have been the resulted from the deliberate disturbance of an earlier monument. The size of the ring-ditch and its location on the brow of a low hill overlooking the Yare valley suggest that it may well have been the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow. Nevertheless, the presence of medieval material within both the ring-ditch itself and (perhaps more significantly) the central pit raises the possibility that it was a later feature. In particular it should be noted that neither its overall size nor the pennanular form suggested by the cropmark evidence would preclude it from having been a windmill mound.
The third trench was positioned to investigate a cluster of discrete geophysical anomalies identified in the south-eastern corner of the field. These were found to correspond with large features of probable natural origin.
See report (S4) for further details.
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.362).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 3 April 2018 and 20 June 2019.

January 2010. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of section of proposed Postwick Hub (Site PH; Trenches 5-14 and 16).
Nine of the 11 trenches excavated in these two fields revealed archaeologically significant features.
Two of the trenches were positioned in order to investigate the previously identified probable enclosure (NHER 52037). In both cases substantial ditches were exposed, the northern side of the enclosure being 3.6m wide and 1.2m and the western side up to 7.8m wide and at least 1.2m deep. The limited number of finds recovered from these two features included single sherds of undiagnostic and Early Neolithic pottery, scraps of Middle Bronze Age Bucket Urn pottery and a small assemblage of predominantly Bronze Age worked flints. Whilst some of this material could easily be residual the assemblage as a whole nevertheless suggests a possible Bronze Age date for this enclosure. Notably a Bronze Age pit was identified in a trench to the west of the enclosure. This fairly large, sub-circular pit was one of the few discrete features identified and produced 46 sherds of Middle Bronze Age Bucket Urn pottery. A further 15 sherds of similar Middle Bronze Age pottery were also recovered from an east-to-west aligned ditch in the same trench. This ditch is one of several identified that appear to correspond with linear cropmarks recorded in these two fields (all of which are recorded under NHER 52038). These included a pair of north-to-south aligned parallel ditches in the southern field and a ditch in the northern field that appears to represent a continuation of one of these features. Unfortunately no dating evidence was recovered from these other ditches. An east-to-west aligned ditch that corresponds with a similarly-aligned cropmark in the northern field was also undated.
Other features included two north-east to south-west aligned ditches and a pit with a fill of charcoal-rich burnt sand; none of which produced any dating evidence.
Unstratified and residual finds recovered during this work included a Mesolithic/Early Neolithic blade-like flint flake, Neolithic and Middle Bronze Age or later worked flints and a single post-medieval pottery sherd.
See report (S5) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S6).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2010.92).
P. Watkins (HES), 29 July 2015. Amended 3 April 2018 and 11 May 2019.

April-June 2014. Strip Map and Sample Excavation.
Two areas excavated prior to construction of new road hub at Postwick – a narrow strip crossing the boundary between the two fields (Area 2) and a smaller area in the south-western corner of the southern field (Area 4).
This phase of work saw several slots excavated across the north-west corner of the potentially prehistoric enclosure (NHER 52037), this being the only section that fell within the area excavated. A small assemblage of prehistoric pottery was again recovered, this time dated as Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age (although it should be noted that the flint-gritted fabric is potentially similar to that of the sherds identified as Middle Bronze Age that were recovered during the earlier work).
Various fragmentary ditches were exposed in both excavations area and as during the earlier work a number of the north-to-south and east-to-west aligned features appear to correspond with previously identified cropmark features (NHER 52038). Amongst the more significant were a pair of interrupted, parallel, north-to-south aligned ditches in the southern excavation area, which the cropmark evidence suggests related to a boundary or trackway that once crossed both fields. Notably only prehistoric finds were recovered including a small assemblage of prehistoric pottery that can be broadly dated as Bronze Age to Early Iron Age. A number of fragmentary linear features in the northern excavation area appeared to continue the line of these ditches, although here finds were limited to a small number of worked flints. A ditch extending northwards from the corner of the large enclosure was potentially a continuation of a north-to-south aligned cropmark to the north and also apparently produced prehistoric pottery. An east-to-west aligned ditch to the west of the enclosure also produced a small amount of Bronze Age pottery and appears to be the same feature as one that also produced Bronze Age sherds during the preceding evaluation.
The larger excavation area revealed a notable number of probably pits, although these were scattered across the site with little obvious clustering apparent. These features varied considerably in size with the largest pits being up to 6m wide. Although dating evidence was generally scarce at least six of the pits produced small pottery assemblages of Bronze Age to Early Iron Age date, suggesting that at least a proportion of these features were associated with prehistoric phases of activity. Later finds were limited to a single medieval pottery sherd and fragments of post-medieval ceramic building material (the latter regarded as probable intrusive). A number of sub-circular probable pits were also identified in the southern excavation area although none produced any clear dating evidence and all appear to have had fairly unremarkable fills.
Both excavation areas produced worked flints of probable Early Neolithic date suggesting that this site saw at least a degree of activity at this time, although none of the excavated features could be convincingly dated to this phase of activity.
See report (S7) for further details. Published article and archive report awaited.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.248).
P. Watkins (HES), 3 April 2018. Amended 19 May 2019.

April-May 2015. Trial Trenching.
Excavation of four evaluation trenches at western edge of field, adjacent to Heath Farm (Trenches 12-15).
No archaeologically significant features or deposits were observed and no finds were recovered.
See report (S8) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 3 April 2018.

November-December 2017. Trial Trenching.
Excavation of single evaluation trench at western edge of field (Trench 1).
No archaeologically-significant features or deposits were recorded and no finds were recovered. Topsoil was found to lie directly above natural deposits.
See report (S9) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 4 February 2020.

February-May 2018. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with construction of new access road.
No features were observed along this section of the new road.
A small number of unstratified metal objects were recovered including:
2 medieval coins.
1 medieval/post-medieval lead window came fragment.
1 post-medieval coin, 1 lead musket ball and 1 lead ?musket ball.
See report (S9) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 4 February 2020.

An archive comprising material from the 2017 and 2018 phases of work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM: 2018.162).
P. Watkins (HES), 3 July 2021.

November-December 2019. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of site of proposed extension to access road and new roundabout close to north-west corner of the site (Trenches 9-10) and a larger area immediately to east of Heath Farm (Broadland Gate Plot 5b; Trenches 11-18)
The two trenches excavated in the north-west part of the site both revealed significant remains of Roman date. The initial excavation of the northern trench exposed a reasonably substantial post-hole that produced several sherds of Roman pottery. An extension to this trench revealed two additional, larger Roman post-holes. There were in a line with the first, suggesting that these features represented the remains of some form of structure. The subsequent excavation of this structure is described in more detail below. The trench immediately to the south revealed a single north-north-west to south-south-east aligned ditch that also produced a number of Roman pottery sherds. These finds are potentially significant as this ditch is parallel to a number of nearby cropmark features - which previous work has struggled to date (part of a group recorded as NHER 52038).
The eight trenches excavated to the east of Heath Farm revealed three ditches, two of which were aligned roughly north-to-south and were potentially associated with similarly aligned cropmarks recovered to the north and south of the evaluated area (also part of the group recorded as NHER 52038). Unfortunately, a single burnt flint was the only find recovered. A sample taken from the fill of one of these ditches also produced little in the way of plant macrofossils or other remains. A third, east-to-west aligned ditch was also undated.
See report (S10) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 9 March 2021.

December 2019. Excavation.
Excavation of site of new roundabout in north-west part of site, where the preceding trial trenching had revealed the remains of some form of Roman post-built structure.
This structure was shown to be rectangular, 9m long, 5m wide and formed by four evenly spaced pairs of post-holes. Assuming it was fully exposed (it lay adjacent to the northern edge of the excavated area, so this isn’t entirely certain) it was most likely a three-bay agricultural building. Clear evidence for post-pipes was seen in all of the post-holes apart from the southernmost pair. Roman pottery was recovered from all eight of the post-holes, along with several fragments of daub. Ceramic building material was though notable absent from all of the excavated features suggesting this structure most likely had a thatched roof.
Other features in the immediate vicinity of the structure included a single, much smaller post-hole and an ovoid pit. As several fragments of animal bone recovered from the former were the only finds, the date and nature of these remains is uncertain. Further remains of probable Roman date were though revealed to the south of the post-hole structure. These included a narrow north-to-south aligned ditch or gully that was a continuation of a feature revealed in a trench previously excavated to the south. This turned through ninety degrees onto an east-to-west alignment within the excavated area, suggesting it defined some form of field or enclosure. A total of 11 Roman pottery sherds were recovered from this feature. A circular pit immediately to the north produced a significant assemblage of Roman finds, including more than 100 Roman pottery sherds, a copper alloy ligula (ear scoop), fragments of daub and iron nails. More than 40 sherds of Roman pottery were also recovered from an irregular feature within the area bounded by the enclosure ditch, and single sherds of pottery were also found in two smaller discrete features to the north.
A single fragment of post-medieval clay tobacco pipe (intrusive within an earlier feature) was the only evidence for post-Roman activity at this location.
The Roman pottery assemblage consists primarily of locally-produced utilitarian wares of mid-to-late Roman date. Several Spanish amphora sherds are present (some possibly brought to the site as broken fragments for use as post packing) but fine wares are very rare.
The majority of the samples taken from the fills of the excavated features produced carbonised plant remains. Of particular interest was the discovery of significant quantities of flax and gold-of-pleasure (‘false flax’) seeds within one of the postholes associated with the Roman building. Both were grown for oil and consumption and flax was also used for fibre. Although gold-of-pleasure is known to have been introduced during the Roman period, this appears to be one of the first times that its presence has been confirmed at a rural site. The burning of this material was presumably accidental. Another rich assemblage of plant remains came from one of the pits to the south of this structure. This was dominant by cereals and including material that represented wheat de-husking waste.
See report (S10) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 9 March 2021.

An archive comprising material from the two phases of work undertaken in 2019 has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2020.10).
P. Watkins (HES), 3 July 2021.

May-June 2020. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of plot within Broadland Gate development (Plot 7).
This phase of work saw the excavation of five trenches at the southern end of this site (Trenches 1-4 and 6).
These revealed only sparse, scattered remains.
One of the more interesting discoveries was a partially exposed feature with a square corner than produced a range of post-medieval finds, including pottery, roof tiles and clay tobacco pipe fragment, along with small amounts of animal bone and oyster shell. Taken together this assemblage indicates an 18th-century date for the feature. It is suggested that it may have been the corner of an enclosure, although it appears to roughly correspond with a previously mapped discrete cropmark (part of a group recorded as NHER 52038), suggesting it was more likely to have been some form of pit.
Present in the same trench was a shallow pit with a charcoal-rich fill that may have been associated with charcoal production. It produced no finds and a sample from its fill was found to contain large chunks of oak charcoal and little else.
The only other features recorded were an oval discrete feature of uncertain nature that produced a single sherd of post-medieval pottery, an undated north-east to south-west aligned possible ditch, an undated pit and a probable natural tree-throw hollow.
Unstratified finds were limited to a medieval/post-medieval buckle and a small number of other, post-medieval and undated metal objects.
See report (S11) for further information. The other trench excavated as part of this evaluation (Trench 5) is recorded under NHER 62622.
P. Watkins (HES), 9 March 2021.

June 2020. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of plot within Broadland Gate development (Plot 2b), adjacent to location investigated in late 2019.
The nine trenches revealed additional Roman remains, including a second post-built structure. This structure consisted of four substantial postholes in a square arrangement, all of which contained the remains of flint post-packing. Two were revealed during the initial excavation of a trench, which was then expanded, revealed the second pair and an adjacent, smaller post-hole. Finds were limited - in contrast to the previously excavated building - with only a single sherd of Roman pottery recovered.
Reasonably large quantities of Roman pottery were though recovered from two of the other features exposed. The first was an east-to-west aligned ditch to the west of the post-built structure that produced 38 pottery sherds and a single tegula fragment. The pottery included the remains of a substantial complete grey ware jar that appeared to have been carefully placed in an inverted position, despite having lost its base and rim. A sample taken from its fill suggested that it contained material essentially identical to the surrounding ditch fill. An even larger assemblage of pottery was recovered from a substantial feature (recorded as a pit but subsequently found to be a well - see below) located approximately 25m to the south-east of the post-hole structure. This feature also produced two schist whetstones, fragments of animal bone and fired clay and an iron knife blade (identified as medieval so potentially intrusive).
Other features of probable Roman date included two east-to-west ditches, both of which produced small assemblages of Roman pottery. One appears to be a continuation of a feature recorded during work that took place around the same time immediately to the west (Plot 2a, NHER 49757).
Undated features included another east-to-west aligned linear feature and several small possible pits.
The mid-late Roman pottery assemblage recovered is broadly similar to that recovered during the earlier work to the south-east; the main difference being a slightly greater proportion of fine wares (although these were still comparatively rare). Samples taken from the fills of various Roman features all produced assemblages of charred plant macrofossils with cereal grains (including glume wheat, hulled barley and probable oat) being the most common. The sample taken from the large pit proved to be the richest. The majority of the identifiable grains in this sample were wheat, with the comparatively small number of glume bases and weed seeds suggesting the presence of processed cereals. Significantly, numerous flax seeds were again present, providing further evidence that this was a significant local crop. The other features produced much lower densities of material more likely to represent scattered debris from domestic and arable processing activities (rather than discrete dumps of carbonised waste).
The small number of unstratified finds recovered included single sherds of Roman/Late Saxon and post-medieval pottery, a 3rd-century Roman coin (the only coin recovered so far during work at this location), and a number of other, post-medieval and undated metal objects.
Information from report uploaded to OASIS. HER copy awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 9 March 2021.

October 2021. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site immediately north of Hawthorne Drive (Broadland Gate Plot 5a).
The seven trenches initially excavated revealed several ditches and a small number of discrete features.
The ditches were mostly aligned roughly north-to-south or east-to-west and produced little in the way of dating evidence. The only find recovered was a single sherd of Iron Age pottery, which came from the upper fill of a reasonably substantial north-to-south aligned feature. A sample from this ditch was found to contain fragments of heather charcoal. An additional trench excavated to the north identified a ditch likely to represent a continuation of this feature.
Another of the north-to-south aligned ditches potentially related to one of the various linear cropmarks mapped at this location (part of the group of potentially multi-period remains recorded as NHER 52038).
The majority of the discrete features recorded were fairly irregular and probably natural in origin. A sample taken from one was though found to contain a small number of carbonised cereal grains, along with numerous carbonised rodent droppings. This may represent debris from the Roman farmstead identified to the north. A single small possible post-hole was also recorded.
The small assemblage of unstratified finds recovered comprises a potentially Neolithic flint flake core and several undiagnostic prehistoric worked flints; two Roman pottery sherds; undated fragments of fired clay and burnt flint and several metal objects, including post-medieval buttons, a copper alloy tack and lead cloth seal and an undated iron nail, unidentified iron object and fragment of amorphous copper alloy waste.
See report (S12) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 4 December 2023.

March-April 2021. Excavation.
Further investigation of plot in north-west corner of site (Plot 2b), where trial trenching in June 2020 had revealed various Roman features.
This excavation revealed a range of Roman remains, with the most notable of the new discoveries being at least three structures interpreted as corn driers.
An initial, early Roman phase of activity was primarily represented by three east-to-west aligned ditches, all of which had also been identified by the preceding evaluation. It is suggested that many of the post-holes and smaller pits recorded were probably also associated with this phase, although this is primarily due to their lack of later Roman material – the majority of these features having produced few finds.
Features likely to be associated with a subsequent, mid- to late Roman phase of activity included the corn driers and a large probable well. The three definite corn driers were of a very similar morphology, all being oval in plan with a deeper bowl-shaped stokehole with traces of in situ burning at one end, from which extended a shallower, elongated flue. A shallow feature with a dark, charcoal-rich fill potentially represented a heavily-truncated fourth corn drier. Notably, three of these features produced pottery of 3rd-century or later date. A pocket whetstone and a possible fragment of another were also found in one of the corn driers. Unsurprisingly samples from their fills produced significant quantities of charred grain, with barley predominant but examples of wheat, spelt, emmer and oats also noted. The general scarcity of chaff across the site suggests the cereals had been processed elsewhere, with the recorded structures being used to dry the grain prior to milling and/or storage.
The probable well had produced a significant assemblage of finds when it was investigated during the preceding trial trenching (then interpreted as a large pit) and further investigation during this phase of work recovered a large number of additional Roman objects. These included more than 400 pottery sherds, tegula and imbrex roof tiles, possible box flue tile and pila tile/brick fragments, two probable bracelets, loomweight fragments, an antler spindle whorl, animal bone and several iron objects. Samples taken from the upper fills of this features produced markedly different assemblages to those from the corn driers, with the charred grains present being predominantly spelt wheat rather than barley. Flax/linseed was also present within one of these deposits.
The Roman pottery recovered suggests these remains were associated with a farmstead that had prospered during the 2nd and 3rd centuries, with activity declining during the 4th century.
The small number of definitely post-Roman features included a modern pit and a roughly north-to-south aligned ditch that corresponds with a former field boundary depicted on 19th-century maps.
See report (S13) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2021.16).
P. Watkins (HES), 29 July 2024.

October 2021. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site to south of Hawthorne Drive (Broadland Gate Plot 6).
The six trenches excavated revealed a small number of linear and discrete features, the majority of which produced no dating evidence.
The three undated ditches recorded included a north-north-west to south-south-east aligned feature likely to relate to one of the various linear cropmarks recorded at this location (part of the group of potentially multi-period remains recorded as NHER 52038). There was no evidence for surviving remains associated with the other cropmarks that coincided with the excavated trenches. The two other ditches recorded were both east-to-west aligned features.
The discrete remains included an irregular ovoid feature that contained a single Roman pottery sherd (the only stratified find recovered). This appeared to be truncated by a smaller feature with a notably charcoal-rich fill. A sample taken from this deposit produced abundant charcoal, all of which appeared to be oak – suggesting this was potentially another feature associated with small-scale charcoal production.
The small assemblage of unstratified finds recovered comprises potentially Early Neolithic and undiagnostic prehistoric worked flints; a single Late Bronze Age pottery sherd; undated fragments of fired clay and burnt flint and several metal objects, including a medieval/post-medieval buckle; post-medieval buttons, a shoe buckle and copper alloy tack and undated fragments of lead waste and an unidentified lead object.
See report (S14) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 4 December 2023.

December 2021-February 2022. Excavation.
Excavation of small development plot in north-west corner of site (Plot 2c), adjacent to the areas where previous investigations had revealed significant Roman remains.
A number of additional Roman features were revealed, the most notable of which were three adjacent kiln/oven-type structures with evidence for in situ burning. These had rounded stoke pits and elongated flues and were therefore identical to the features interpreted as probable corn driers that had been uncovered immediately to the north during the 2021 excavation. The richest of the samples taken from these features were again dominated by grains of barley, accompanied by smaller numbers of wheat and oat grains. It is noted that these assemblages of carbonised remains are very different to that recovered from a corn drier excavated to the west in 2020 (currently recorded under NHER 49757), which had been dominated by spelt wheat and spelt wheat de-husking waste (the latter used as fuel). It is therefore likely that this feature had been used for a different activity to those at this location.
Other potentially Roman features uncovered included a number of probable pits and a narrow east-to-west aligned linear feature - none of which produced more than a handful of Roman pottery sherds.
The one feature of definite post-Roman date was a previously recorded north-to-south aligned ditch associated with a former field boundary depicted on 19th-century maps.
The unstratified finds recovered included Roman and post-medieval pottery sherds; a fragment of lava quern; Roman and post-medieval coins and a small assemblage of other metal objects, comprising Roman hobnails; a possible Roman steelyard weight; Roman or later lead pot mends and post-medieval buttons, a buckle, tack, possible book fitting, possible furniture handle, copper alloy nail, copper alloy ring, unidentified copper alloy fitting and lead cloth seal and undated pieces of lead waste and a possible lead weight. A single fragment of Roman tegula was also recovered from a shallow natural hollow.
As with the preceding phases of work the Roman pottery recovered suggests at least some degree of activity throughout much of the period, with both early Roman and late Roman material present amongst the more diagnostic sherds.
See report (S15) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 30 July 2024.

October 2024. Excavation.
Small open-area excavation at TG 2907 0903, prior to construction of electrical substation.
Subsoil only survived across part of the rectangular area investigated, part of which had clearly seen significant recent disturbance. Two irregular features were recorded, one of which was a probable continuation of a potentially Roman feature recorded during a preceding phase of work.
No unstratified finds were recovered.
See report (S16) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 3 September 2025.