NHER 51731 (Monument record) - Late Saxon to medieval and post-medieval features

September-November 2008. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of site on proposed route of Sheringham Shoals Offshore Windfarm Grid Connection cable (Trenches 90, 90a and 91).
The trench closest to the River Bure revealed three post-holes and two ditches. The post-holes were probably part of some form of structure and had been packed with what appeared to be the burnt remains of a packed chalk floor. Although these post-holes produced no finds they were associated with a colluvial deposit that produced a number of Late Saxon and Roman pottery sherds. This deposit also produced fragments of lava quern and a small number of prehistoric worked flints.
One of the ditches produced single sherds of Late Saxon, medieval and ?medieval pottery and was therefore potentially associated with a later phase of activity. No finds were recovered from the second ditch, which was aligned north-west to south-east and much more substantial.
A north-to-south aligned ditch exposed in the southernmost trench was probably of relatively recent date. This feature produced a fragment of post-medieval brick and appears to correspond with a former field boundary marked on 19th-century maps.
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).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 10 June 2019.

The potentially quite significant remains at this site were preserved in situ during the subsequent installation of the Sheringham Shoals Offshore Windfarm Grid Connection cable. This was done by increasing the length of the directional drill shot underneath the River Bure.
Information from (S2).
P. Watkins (HES), 10 June 2019.