NHER 55983 (Find Spot record) - Potentially prehistoric, medieval and post-medieval to modern finds

July 2011. Test Pit.
Excavation of two test pits by local school children as part of the Higher Education Field Academy (HEFA) programme run by Access Cambridge Archaeology.

The first test pit (ACL/11/1) was located at [1] and dug to a maximum depth of 0.40m, at which point its excavation had to be halted due to the presence of concrete.
Finds recovered included:
3 post-medieval pottery sherds and 6 clay tobacco pipe stem fragments.
45 late post-medieval/modern pottery sherds.
This test pit also produced a range of other finds that were not subject to specialist examination, the majority of which are either of probable late post-medieval to modern date or inherently undatable. These additional objects include 2 flat tile fragments, 33 ceramic building material fragments, 2 slate fragments, various pieces of glass, a metal disc, a metal handle, 5 iron nails, 4 corroded iron scraps, 3 pieces of iron slag, an oyster shell and several black bottle stoppers marked 'Young's & Crawhay Ltd, Norwich'.

This second test pit (ACL/11/06) was located at [2] and did not reach natural geological deposits – excavation being halted at a depth of 0.60m due to time constraints. Finds recovered included:
4 medieval pottery sherds.
3 post-medieval pottery sherds and 26 clay tobacco pipe fragments.
40 late post-medieval/modern pottery sherds.
This test pit also produced a range of other finds that were not subject to specialist examination, the majority of which are either of probable late post-medieval to modern date or inherently undatable. These additional objects include 2 possible prehistoric flint flakes, a burnt stone, 2 tile fragments, 28 unidentified ceramic building material fragments, various pieces of glass, 2 iron nails, a possible iron bolt, 3 corroded scraps of iron, a piece of possible iron slag, 13 oyster shells and 2 cockle shells.

For further details, including a wider discussion of the results of the HEFA test pitting surveys undertaken in Acle between 2009 and 2014 see report (S1), which incorporates information from pottery report (S2). See also newspaper article (S3) on the finds, including a Victorian pot with an indent of a fingerprint from the King's Head Inn garden.
P. Watkins (HES), 11 May 2026.