NHER 51375 (Monument record) - Medieval land reclamation, pits and ditches, Littleport Street

February 2008. Trial Trenching.
Only one of the three planned trenches could be excavated on this site, at its westermost end. The presence of services meant that it was only possible to excavate a 1m by 1m sondage at the centre of this trench. This revealed a relatively undisturbed sequence indicating activity on the site from the 13th century onwards.
The earliest deposit (at 2.2m OD) was a layer of wood fragments and bark that may have been laid on the surface of the saltmarsh to consolidate the ground surface. Above this was a layer of organic matter which may have been farmyard waste and which contained six sherds of 13th-14th century pottery.
Cutting both these layers was a later pit or ditch which could not be fully excavated, and adjacent to this was a wooden post which may have formed part of a revetment. This feature appeared to have naturally silted up. This feature was sealed by a layer of alluvium which contained no finds, and suggests that there was not human activity on the site at this time. A further alluvial layer above this contained charcoal and fragments of 13th-14th century pottery and tile.
Another large feature, probably a ditch, cuts these alluvial layers, and saw some initial dumping of material suggesting it was open at some stage during the 13th or 14th centuries. This ditch was perpendicular to Littleport Street and may have been a property boundary as well as providing drainage.
A later linear feature was backfilled with demolition material, pottery and ceramic building material dating from the 16th century. A further demolition layer was found to contain 16th to 17th century material, and above this was a 18th to 19th century soil.

The first trench was excavated at the west of the site, and contained a service trench, which meant that it could not be fully excavated. Instead, a 1m by 1m sondage was hand-excavated in the centre of the trench. It produced a layer of mixed deposit comprising sandy silt with frequent round to sub-angular stones/flints and rare charcoal flecks, and contained 19 sherds of pottery, two fragments of a single roof tile, two fragments of animal bone and four pieces of clay pipe. This sealed another layer of sandy silt which produced 25 sherds of eighteenth to nineteenth century pottery and fifteen pieces of animal bone. This was found to overlay a demolition deposit which contained two pieces of medieval roof tile, five sherds of pottery and 15 pieces of animal bone. It would appear that this layer was formed in the 16th-17th century. A linear feature ran north-west to south-east, had a vertical north-east edge and an irregular base. Its fill produced 17 medieval tile fragments, five sherds of pottery and three fragments of animal bone, indicating that it was probably backfilled in the 16th century. A gully/ shallow ditch truncated an earlier linear feature which was oriented broadly north-west to south-east, had a steep south-western side and a flat base.The initial fill contained two pieces of pottery and eight fragments of ceramic building material and appears to be evidence of the dumping of refuse in the 13th to 14th centuries. The uppermost fill contained a mix assembly of pottery and ceramic building material, and suggests that the ditch was completely infilled in the 16th to early 17th century. It is possible that this ditch functioned as a drainage ditch or a property boundary. An organic waterlogged spread with small stones, charcoal and shell fragments produced six sherds of 13th to 14th century pottery, ten pieces of animal bone and a rand or welt from a leather show. Below this was a cut feature that was not fully excavated due to the height of the watertable, however it appeared to have a vertical south-west edge and was devoid of finds. The edge of this feature coincided with a cut timber post, only partially exposed. The top of the post was uneven, and it may have been broken in antiquity.
The second and third trenches produced no archaeological finds or features.
See report (S1) for further details.
H. White (NLA) 11 December 2008