NHER 51444 (Monument record) - Roman ditches and poorly-dated possible quarry pit

The results of a fieldwalking and metal-detecting survey undertaken in March-April 2008 are now recorded under NHER 6558.
P. Watkins (HES), 29 May 2019.

September-November 2008. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of site on proposed route of Sheringham Shoals Offshore Windfarm Grid Connection cable (Trenches 43, 43a and 44).
No features were exposed in the three trenches excavated at this location. The subsoil in the northernmost trench did however produce more than 100 Roman pottery sherds and two Roman tiles, all of which were concentrated in a small area. This discovery meant it was highly likely that there had been some form of Roman-period activity in the immediate vicinity of this spot.
The only find recovered elsewhere in the field was a single Roman pottery sherd.
See reports (S1) and (S2) for further details. This work is also noted in (S3).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.361).
P. Watkins (HES), 5 June 2019.

June 2009. Excavation.
Excavation of site on proposed route of Sheringham Shoals Offshore Windfarm Grid Connection cable.
An area opened up around the spot where much Roman pottery had been recovered during the preceding evaluation exposed two intersecting ditches and a large pit, all of which appeared to be sealed by a subsoil deposit that produced a small amount of Early Saxon pottery.
Both of the ditches produced large amounts of Roman pottery and a Roman tile was collected from the subsoil close to one of these features. The bulk of the Roman pottery was from sandy grey ware vessels that had probably been produced locally. A sample taken from one of the ditch fills produced charred material likely to be derived from hearth waste or similar domestic detritus.
The large possible quarry pit was partially exposed at the southern end of the excavation area and is regarded as potentially an Early Saxon feature. It should though be noted that finds were limited to two handmade pottery sherds that could be either Early Saxon or early medieval and an iron holdfast and rove of probable post-medieval date.
Unstratified finds included a Neolithic/Early Bronze Age flint scraper, a Roman Millstone Grit rotary quern topstone fragment, an undiagnostic piece of burnt gritstone and a post-medieval pantile and copper alloy possible book binding fragment.
Final report awaited. See assessment report (S2) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S3).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2010.81 or NWHCM : 2010.82 and NWHCM : 2017.361).
S. Howard (HES), 1 July 2011. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 11 May 2019 and 5 June 2019.

2009-2010. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of topsoil stripping and other groundworks associated with installation of the Sheringham Shoals Offshore Windfarm Grid Connection cable.
It appears that no additional features were observed during this phase of work. Finds recovered included a medieval coin and a post-medieval pantile fragment.
Final report awaited. See assessment report (S2) for further details. This work is also noted in (S3).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.361).
P. Watkins (HES), 8 June 2019.