NHER 53041 (Monument record) - Late Iron Age to Roman and undated remains

May 2008. Desk-based Assessment.
Assessment of proposed aggregate extraction area (Phase B).
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 25 August 2015.

June-July 2008. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometry survey of proposed aggregate extraction area (Area 2).
Former field boundaries pre-dating the 6 inch 1st edition ordnance survey map (1879-1886) were revealed. Some dipolar anomalies are similar to that of features that have been heated to a high temperature such as kilns. In the south-western area of the site a rectilinear enclosure was identified.
See report (S2) for further details.
S. Howard (HES), 13 September 2011. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 25 August 2015.

September 2008-March 2009. Systematic Fieldwalking and Metal-detecting Survey.
Field survey of proposed aggregate extraction area (Area B).
Finds recovered comprised:
5 prehistoric flint side scrapers, 1 piercer, 1 retouched blade, 3 blades and 10 flakes.
55 ?prehistoric fragments of burnt flint.
1 Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age pottery sherd;
1 post-medieval pottery sherd, 1 post-medieval peg tile fragment and 1 clay tobacco pipe stem fragment.
No significant metal objects were recovered.
See report (S3) for further details.
A. Cattermole (NLA), 16 September 2009.

November-December 2010. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed aggregate extraction area (Area 2; Trenches 24-36).
The excavation revealed a number of undated features which are probably the remains of a Late Iron Age or Early Roman field system. This likely forms part of the same agricultural landscape investigated at Honeypots Plantation (NHER 36218). Part of the system of ditches may include a trackway that leads across the southern area of the site. There was little dating evidence with only six sherds of Early Roman grog-tempered pottery recovered from a small pit and isolated posthole.
See report (S4) for further details.
S. Howard (HES), 6 February 2012.

November 2012. Norfolk NMP.
The features described above were not visible on the available aerial photographs of the area, however it is worth noting that damage to the archaeological surface by ploughing was noted in many of the evaluation trenches (S4).
E. Ford (NMP), 20 November 2012.

August 2012. Watching Brief.
Maintained during topsoil and subsoil stripping ahead of aggregate extraction (Phase B1).
This work exposed a number of ditches and several discrete features. Although these features produced few finds, evidence from the surrounding sites suggests most, if not all were probably associated with prehistoric and/or Roman phases of activity.
The more extensive, better preserved ditches included two adjacent pairs, one aligned north-west to south-east and the other west-north-west to east-south-east. They were clearly related – with the southernmost of the latter terminating at the northmost of the former and the northernmost at the southern. The nature of these relationships suggests that two phases must be represented and that the ditches forming each 'pair' were not actually contemporary - despite their trackway-like appearances. This is supported by the fact that the northern ditch of the west-north-west to east-south-east aligned pair is crossed by two short perpendicular ditches extending northwards from the southern ditch. Similarly-aligned fragmentary ditches to the north were probably elements of the same field system, one of which produced a single sherd of Late Iron Age/Early Roman pottery.
The discrete features included a loose cluster of four small pits or post-holes and a number of more isolated pits. These features were all undated, the only find being a flint scraper of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age date recovered from one of the pits. The most notable of the pits was a large circular feature with a dark reddish primary fill overlain by a loose black ashy sand containing a significant quantity of burnt stone and flint. Similar material was present in another of the pits.
The only unstratified find recovered was a late post-medieval coin.
See report (S5) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 12 December 2025.

August 2012. Watching Brief.
Maintained during topsoil and subsoil stripping ahead of aggregate extraction (Phase B1).
This phase of work uncovered several fragmentary ditches and a number of scattered discrete features – the majority of which produced little or no dating evidence.
The discrete features included a relatively small pit with a charcoal-rich fill that contained several sherds of Late Iron Age pottery, including several from a burnished bowl with curvilinear decoration. This feature lay close to a small, undated (but potentially contemporary) pit with a clay lining. Clasts of a similar clay were noted within the fill of another pit. Other features of note included two adjacent much larger pits, one of which produced a sherd of Late Iron Age/Early Roman pottery.
Although the fragmentary ditches produced no finds their alignments suggest that at least some were elements of the field system exposed during the preceding work to the west.
See report (S5) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 12 December 2025.

March 2013. Watching Brief.
Details awaited.

June 2013. Watching Brief.
Details awaited.