NHER 55952 (Monument record) - Medieval, post-medieval and undated features

November 2010. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of topsoil stripping on site of new horse arena.
Two pits were identified, both of which contained charcoal, burnt flints and hazelnut shells. These features were possibly of prehistoric date, with the material within them potentially domestic hearth waste.
See report (S1) for further details.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2011.51).
S. Howard (HES), 11 August 2011. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 30 January 2017 and 12 May 2019.

September-November 2011. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with construction of new school building.
This work exposed a number of medieval, post-medieval and undated features. Potentially medieval features included a fairly large steep-sided oval pit that produced a number of medieval pottery sherds. Several much larger probably quarry pits were also identified. These features may have represented more than one phase of activity as one produced medieval pottery sherds, the second late medieval/early post-medieval sherds and the third material of post-medieval date. It is likely that another large post-medieval features of some kind was present in the southernmost part of the site, where it was noted that the topsoil contained a notable amount of post-medieval pottery.
A feature identified immediately to the north of the school buildings was probably an infilled ditch associated with a boundary marked on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map.
The undated remains included a shallow clay-lined feature that was interpreted as either the remains of a domestic hearth or the truncated base of a kiln or oven. This feature had probably seen a protracted period of use as the surrounding natural clay was heavily burnt and heat-reddened and there was evidence that it had been relined on at least one occasion. No finds were recovered although the nature of the surrounding features suggests that it was most likely medieval or post-medieval.
Other undated features included a ditch identified at the northern edge of the site and a possible tree hole.
See report (S2) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 30 January 2017.