NHER 49759 (Monument record) - Potentially prehistoric ditches and post-Roman and undated features

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 survey on proposed line of Norwich Northern Distributor Road (Area 6).
No anomalies of obvious archaeological significance were identified. Several linear and discrete positive anomalies may though represent sub-surface remains.
See report (S3) for further details.
A. Cattermole (NLA), 18 September 2009. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 3 April 2018.

December 2006. Systematic Fieldwalking and Metal-detecting Survey.
Field survey on proposed line of Norwich Northern Distributor Road (Field 77).
No finds of archaeological significance were recovered.
See reports (S4) and (S5) for further details.
A. Cattermole (NLA), 17 September 2009.

April-June 2014. Strip Map and Sample Excavation.
One of several areas excavated prior to construction of new road hub at Postwick (Area 3).
This work identified a range of discrete and linear features, several of which clearly correspond with anomalies detected during the preceding geophysical survey.
The various fragmentary ditches exposed were all aligned north-north-west to south-south-east and west-south-west to east-north-east and therefore potentially represented a single phase of land division. The easternmost of the north-to-south aligned ditches is a continuation of a linear cropmark identified in the field to the north (NHER 52039). This cropmark appears to form the eastern side of a large rectilinear enclosure tentatively date as Late Iron Age or Roman (the projected western side of which would lie beyond the excavated area). Although the excavation produced relatively few finds the absence of Iron Age or Roman material is notable, with the ditches producing only small quantities of earlier material. These finds included a small amount of Early Bronze Age pottery (recovered from a ditch running parallel to that associated with the possible enclosure) and worked flints of Early Neolithic to Early Bronze Age date.
The 69 discrete features were fairly evenly distributed across the excavated area and were mostly interpreted as pits. The majority of the smaller features remain undated, having produced either no finds or only small amounts of burnt flint. Two produced fragments of post-medieval roof tile, although it is suggested that this may well have been intrusive. Several of the pits were much larger than the others, including two that corresponded with geophysical anomalies. One of these features produced a scrap of Late Bronze Age pottery and a post-medieval roof tile fragment, while another produced a single sherd of medieval pottery, suggesting that at least some of these features may have been associated with a more recent phase of activity.
See report (S6) 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.