NHER 52702 (Monument record) - Prehistoric ditches and a post medieval wall and post hole, Church Farm, Filby

March 2009. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
Three slightly irregular ditch features were identified running north- south across the trench situated at the northern side of the barn footprint. They appear to line up with cropmarks from the north, and may represent the re-digging of the same boundary over time. A residual flint flake and a small fragment of a Roman brooch were recovered from these features. A singular large pit or ditch was observed at the north-western side of the building footprint. The feature remains undated. A further large pit or ditch was identified in a trench to the east of the building footprint. A small post hole was identified to the east of the pit or ditch. The fill contained a fragment of wood, which could indicate that the post hole was not very old. Due to lack of further dating evidence, the feature was thought to be post- medieval. A small regular gully oriented north-south was excavated to the south. The fill appeared to have been built up through natural processes. A further gully or small ditch, oriented east-west was located 1.8m to the south. The single fill derived from natural silting and contained no dating evidence. A short section of wall at the southern end of the trench was identified as part of a 19th century farm building. A large pit was identified at the eastern edge of the trench, and probably represented a 19th century robber pit to extract building material from the wall.
See report (S1) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S2).
See also (S3) and (S4).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2016.155).
H. White (NLA), 13 May 2009. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 27 April 2019.