NHER 56794 (Monument record) - Undated pits and post-medieval and undated ditches

September 2011. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometer survey of site of proposed new irrigation reservoir.
This survey identified no potentially archaeologically-significant anomalies. The anomalies detected were likely to be the result of modern ploughing, land drains and variations in the superficial geological deposits.
See report (S1) for further details.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 24 August 2020.

May-June 2013. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with construction of irrigation reservoir at western end of site. Topsoil was stripping from the footprint of the reservoir itself and the line of a new access road and associated drainage ditch.
The topsoil was up to 0.5m deep and lay directly above the natural clay.
A small number of archaeologically-significant features were exposed, including three small pits and three ditches - none of which produced any dating evidence. A former pond was also observed.
The pits were all undated shallow, truncated features with dark grey, charcoal-flecked fills. One also contained a thin layer of charcoal-rich material but none showed any evidence for in situ burning. The pond is marked on the late 19th-century 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map and was a visible landscape feature until relatively recently. Two of the ditches extended from the pond are also relatively recently, corresponding with field boundaries that were extant until at least the mid 20th-century. The third ditch was an undated north-to-south aligned feature identified in the south-west corner of the site.
No unstratified finds were recovered.
See report (S2) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.68).
P. Watkins (HES), 24 August 2020.

October 2021. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometer survey of part of large proposed development site (F7).
This survey of the eastern half of the site identified northing of potential archaeological interest. Although a north-to-south aligned linear anomaly at the western edge of the site is likely to represent an infilled ditch, this clearly corresponds with a former field boundary shown on the Ordnance Survey First Edition map (S3). Other linear responses are thought to have been caused by land drains while scattered dipolar 'spike' were probably associated with ferrous material on or close to the surface – most likely modern debris.
See report (S4) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 12 July 2026.

March-June 2025. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of part of large proposed development site (Trenches 122-125, 149-153, 177-180 and 205-206).
The 15 trenches excavated at this location revealed only a ditch and a pit.
The ditch was a north-to-south aligned feature that had been identified by the preceding geophysical survey and corresponds with a former field boundary shown on the Ordnance Survey First Edition map (S3). It contained a single late post-medieval/modern drain fragment. The single discrete feature recorded was a large probable quarry pit that produced no dating evidence.
See report (S5) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 12 July 2026.