NHER 5489 (Monument record) - Beaker occupation site and Bronze Age round barrow in Reffley Wood

THE 1930s EXCAVATIONS

1937 to 1938. Excavation.
Excavation of a Bronze Age barrow by P. L. K. Schwabe and I. J. Thatcher. This work took place a few yards inside the borough boundary at Gaywood, north-east of Reffley Wood on a strip of land where flints had been found. Aerial photographs had shown a "faint double circle" c. 100ft [30.5m] in diameter, within 20 yards [18m] of a low circular mound in light soil that was 50ft [15m] in diameter and "rabbit riddled". No ditch was revealed by the excavation, although two interments were identified. These were very compact and in powdery condition, although they were clearly demarcated from the sand below. A total of seven cremations were also found, including one which was associated with a Late Bronze Age vessel. Evidence for Beaker period occupation on the site was revealed beneath the barrow, associated with possible hearths and a pit. The barrow was therefore interpreted as having been constructed during the Early Bronze Age, with the cremations represent its reuse during the subsequent Mid-Late Bronze Age. Information from (S1).

The finds recovered during the excavation included a diverse assemblage of Beaker pottery, "rusticated ware", several hundred flint flakes and pot boilers. Other particular notable finds were a faience quoit pendant and a faience segmented bead (S17) that were associated with one of the cremations, and a V-perforated cone-shaped jet button. Information from (S1).

This excavation also recovered 5 Palaeolithic flakes of "Clacton" type (Group II), these being recovered from the underlying sandy gravel. Information from (S2). These finds were listed by Roe (S18) as 5 unretouched flakes. They were described by Wymer in (S19) as rolled, stained and with prominent bulbs of percussion. They are also noted on (S26).

A brief summary of this work appeared in (S3) and the excavation were reported on a number of times in the local press; (S4), (S6) and (S7). A selection of the finds from this excavation are held by the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 1946.164.11), including some of the worked flints, Beaker sherds and Rusticated ware sherds. This museum also hold the Palaeolithic flakes (NWHCM : 1946.164.16). The remainder of the finds, including the jet button and the faience items, were given to the British Museum (1938,1202). See file for associated correspondence (S8) and many photographs of the excavation and the finds (S9). According to (S10) a manuscript report on this excavation produced by Schwabe also survives. The location of this document is unknown at present, although it is most likely held by the British Museum.

A variety of sources provide additional information on the finds from this site. A number of the Beaker sherds are listed in (S27). The Beaker pottery is also considered in (S11) and (S12) and was described by F. Healy (NAU) in (S10) as "Final Southern (Step 6-7). The Collared Urn sherds from this site are amongst those catalogued in (S25).
The faience items are listed in a gazetteer that accompanies (S13). The segmented bead is described as consisting of six segments and having lost much of its original blue glaze (length 14mm, diameter 4.5mm, perforation 2.5mm). The quoit pendant is described as dark greenish-brown in colour with large quartz grains visible to the eye (diameter 27mm, diameter of hole 15mm, diameter of perforation for suspension 1.5mm). Photographs of both items are included in this article. See (S14) for a recent discussion of jet buttons of the type found here (in which this piece is listed). It should be noted that the British Museum's records indicate that the button is not shale or jet, as originally thought, but rather a local jet-like stone material.

The 943 worked flints held by the British Museum (1938,1202) were examined by Francis Healy (NAU), this being one of the assemblages that she compared with a similar material recovered during the excavation of two barrows on Weasenham Lyngs in 1972 (NHER 3660 and NHER 3661). This predominantly Beaker-period assemblage was recorded in (S10) as including the following retouched implements:
1 Mesolithic microlith. Also examined by R. Jacobi and described in (S20).
1 Neolithic oblique arrowhead and 2 Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age barbed and tanged arrowheads (plus another three listed in Schwabe's notes).
A significant number of scrapers, including 30+ end scrapers, 20+ side and end scrapers, 5-10 horseshoe scrapers, 3-5 side scrapers, 1 double-sided scraper, 10+ scrapers made on broken flakes and 1 scraper made on irregular waste.
1 awl, 1 piercer and 1 spurred piece.
5 flake knives.
2 notched flakes and 1 denticulate.
1 fabricator.
1 flake from a polished implement.
5 pieces with abrupt retouch and 3-5 miscellaneous retouched pieces.
330 intact flakes were also present.
In addition to the microlith, Healy notes that the relatively high proportion of blades in the assemblage probably represents residual (presumably Mesolithic) material. The bulk of the retouched pieces were however felt to date to the 2nd millennium BC. The Beaker-period material was similar to the other assemblages examined, with few cores and a heterogeneous composition. The flints held by the British Museum are also described in detail by Healy in (S21), in which drawings (S22-S24) are reproduced. It should be noted that this source describesd and illustrates three Mesolithic "tools" (Nos 24-26).

The worked flints held by the Norwich Castle Museum include a small number of Mesolithic/Neolithic flint flakes.
E. Rose (NAU), 19 August 1982. Expanded and amended by P. Watkins (HES), 27 November 2013.

SUBSEQUENT OBSERVATIONS ETC

1976. Site Visit.
No sign of site in ploughed field.
A. Lawson (NAU).

August 1983. Site Visit.
Mound still visible about 0.40m high but ploughed.
J. Wymer (NAU).

March 1991. Site Visit.
Very slight rise noted under dense young cereal crop. Max height 0.3m.
H. Paterson.

1993.
For five years the British Museum's finds from this site were on display at the British Museum. See press cuttings in file (S15) (S16).
P. Watkins (HES), 27 November 2013.

RECENT FIELDWORK

February-March 2014. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometer survey of large proposed development area to west of Queen Elizabeth Way and south of Sandy Lane.
This survey identified two concentric ring-ditches that almost certainly represent the remains of this barrow. These anomalies were however approximately 70m to the north of the previous location of this record, at TF65972184. However given the lack of anomalies at what had previous been believed to be the site of the barrow (TF 6596 2177) it seems reasonably certain that the early records were simply inaccurately (rather than the geophysical anomalies representing a second, previously unidentified barrow).
The outer ring-ditch was approximately 34m in diameter and the inner ring-ditch approximately 19m in diameter.
See report (S28) and NHER 62675 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 18 April 2018.

October 2014. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of large proposed development area to west of Queen Elizabeth Way and south of Sandy Lane.
This work saw a trench placed to investigate the two concentric geophysical anomalies now believed to represent the remains of the Reffley Wood barrow. This work confirmed this assertion, with linear features identified that represented the northern and southern sides of both the inner and the outer ring-ditches (although the character of these ditches was far from consistent). The inner ring-ditch was the more substantial of the two, being between 6m and 1.8m wide and up to 0.85m deep. Finds recovered included 12 Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age Beaker pottery sherds, 15 worked flints and a single burnt flint.
A number of features were present within the inner ring-ditch, including one small, clearly undisturbed pit that was cut by the ditch and contained numerous sherds of Beaker pottery and a fairly large number of presumably contemporary worked flints. Two other pit-like features had very crisp edges and been backfilled with soil – making it highly likely that they had been previously investigated during the 1930s excavations. One would appear to correspond with a geophysical anomaly that was identified at the centre of the monument and may well have been the grave that produced the faience beads. The remaining features were all probable rabbit burrows that produced a small assemblage of addition Beaker sherds and worked flints. The presence of this disturbance is further evidence that this is indeed the site of the Reffley Wood barrow as it is recorded that the barrow had been riddled with rabbit burrows. The presence of the Beaker pit and the assemblages of Beaker pottery and Beaker-period worked flints are also consistent with the results of the earlier work, being associated with the domestic site known to have pre-dated the construction of the barrow. Whilst none of this is conclusive it should be noted that although potentially prehistoric features were identified in a number of the other trenches excavated in this field, not a single other sherd of Beaker pottery was recovered.
See report (S29) and NHER 62675 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 18 April 2018.

The mapped location of this record (previously a point at TF 6596 2177) has now been corrected to reflect the results of the archaeological work undertaken in 2014.
P. Watkins (HES), 18 April 2018.