NHER 5761 (Monument record) - Late Saxon to medieval pits and early medieval ditch.

Plot on east side of Mill Lane, 61m (200ft) north of 'Nunthorpe' House, Thetford.
This area was scheduled as part of the Saxon town in 1967.
See (S1) for further details.

12 September 1978. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of the excavation of five trial holes for a possible extension to Thetford moulded products Ltd recorded a medieval cooking pot rim (test hole 2), human bones (test hole 3), animal bone (test hole 4), and a possible wooden stake within a peat layer (test hole 4). The human skeletal remains in test hole 3 were recovered from the spoil and it is uncertain whether they were derived from in situ burials or from a layer incorporating previously disturbed remains. The lack of pottery, animal bone and oyster shell at the site compared to other excavated areas of the town led the excavators to conclude that the area was too marshy in Saxo-Norman times for occupation.
See (S2) for further details.
E. Rose (NAU).
Updated H. Hamilton (NLA), 27 August 2008.

1995. Excavation.
Excavation of three areas revealed only a small number of archaeological features. Four to five pits were dated to the Late Saxon period. Several small pits and two linear features were assigned an 11th to 12th century date, and a small group of pits were dated to the 12th to 14th century. The majority of these features were located to the west of the excavated areas, towards Mill Lane, and it is likely that they represent the easternmost extent of the Late Saxon and medieval settlement recorded west of Mill Lane, at NHER 1022. It has been suggested that this area may have remained largely meadowland until the post medieval period.
Finds recovered from the features east of Mill Lane have not been identified within the publication of these excavations, and the nature of the features has not been discussed in detail.
See (S3) and (S4) for further details. See (S6) for short summary.
H. Hamilton (NLA), 27 August 2008.