NHER 60742 (Monument record) - Early Neolithic, Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age, post-medieval and undated remains

August 2013. Geophysical Survey.
A detailed magnetometer survey was carried out over approximately 10ha of arable land prior to proposed residential development.
A cluster of possible soil-filled features was identified within the central portion of the survey area. Based on the known underlying geology of this area, some of these features may be the remains of sand or gravel extraction pits. A small number of weak curvilinear anomalies in the central portion of the survey area may be the remains of ditches or gullies.
Several linear responses in the south of the survey area and one at the northern end may represent soil-filled ditches which were either short-lived or pre-dated the First Edition Ordnance Survey map (S1). Two additional linear anomalies located toward the north-central portion of the survey area correspond to former field boundaries depicted on historic Ordnance Survey mapping. A former trackway depicted on historic Ordnance Survey mapping was also present as a broad northeast-southwest aligned negative response and a concentration of anomalies interpreted as disturbed ground or building rubble was located in the vicinity of a former building, field boundary, and track depicted on historic mapping.
All other variations in the magnetic responses have been interpreted as the result of natural geological variation, modern cultivation, and modern below-ground services.
The northern portion of the survey area clips the southern edge of an area of known cropmarks recorded in 2010 (NHER 54375), but none of the recorded anomalies appear to correlate to the cropmark features recorded in this area.
See report (S2) for further information.
H. Hamilton (HES), 11 May 2015.

June 2017. Trial Trenching.
Excavation of six trenches in field to east of Manor Farm Close (Trenches 30-35), two of which revealed archaeologically-significant remains.
A trench towards the southern end of the field revealed two ditches, both of which corresponded with previously identified geophysical anomalies. The north-north-east to south-south-east aligned feature produced a single sherd of Late Saxon pottery and several fragments of fired clay, one with wattle impressions. A small undated pit was also present in this trench.
A north-to-south aligned ditch exposed in the south-west corner of the site produced fragments of late post-medieval ceramic building material and clearly corresponds with a boundary marked on the Tithe map of 1842. Several pits of probable late post-medieval date were also present in this trench.
Although the northernmost two trenches were placed to investigate linear geophysical anomalies no corresponding features were identified.
No unstratified finds were recovered.
See interim report (S3) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2019.246).
P. Watkins (HES), 27 August 2020.

October 2020. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of large proposed development area.
The majority of the 59 trenches excavated revealed archaeologically-significant remains, although most of the pits, possible post-holes and ditches recorded produced little or no dating evidence.
There was though clear evidence for at least limited prehistoric activity on the site, with a total of 114 worked flints recovered, along with a small assemblage of Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age pottery. More than half of the worked flints were recovered from a north-to-south aligned ditch in the central part of the site, with this material representing a single-period assemblage of probable Early Neolithic date. Despite the coherence of this material the date of this feature was uncertain as it also produced several sherds of Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age pottery. The majority of the other worked flints were also recovered from trenches in the central part of the site, although most were either unstratified or probably residual in later contexts. Many of these flints were also of probable Early Neolithic date, with the small number of pieces likely to represent earlier and later phases of activity including a Mesolithic blade core and a possible Late Neolithic discoidal knife. The bulk of the other Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age pottery was also recovered from the central part of the site, although the individual assemblages were very small. Several probable ditches produced pottery of this date, including an otherwise undated north-north-east to south-south-west aligned feature that appears to correspond with a slightly sinuous cropmark previously recorded at this location (part of the group of probable field boundaries of probable medieval to post-medieval date recorded as NHER 54375). A single sherd of probable Late Iron Age/early Roman pottery was also recovered from a possible linear feature recorded in this party of the site.
There was little evidence for subsequent activity on the site prior to the post-medieval period, with no Roman or Saxon finds recovered and only a very small quantity of medieval pottery found (most of which was likely residual in later features).
A number of pits and ditches produced late post-medieval finds, including pottery sherds, brick and tile fragments and clay tobacco pipe stems. The ditches of probable late post-medieval date were all aligned roughly east-to-west or north-to-south and included several features that correspond with former field boundaries depicted on the Drayton tithe map (S4). The majority of the post-medieval pits lay in the southern half of the site, close to the site of Manor Farm. Other post-medieval remains included a cobbled surface partially exposed at the western end of a southernmost trenches. This is recorded as the remains of a trackway but lay adjacent to farm outbuildings shown on the Ordnance Survey First Edition Six-inch map (S1) and was therefore most likely a yard surface. A pit containing what was probably a relatively recent cow burial was presumably also associated with this farm.
The majority of the probable ditches recorded produced no dating evidence, although it is likely that many of those aligned either north-to-south or east-to-west were also post-medieval. Those likely to represent earlier phases of activity included a number of north-east to south-west aligned features, one of which produced two sherds of medieval pottery.
Most of the probable pits were also undated, with the majority being fairly unremarkable features with sterile fills.
The small number of other unstratified finds recovered included Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age and post-medieval pottery sherds, post-medieval brick and tile fragments and a small number of modern metal objects.
See report (S5) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 1 February 2024.

April-May 2021. Excavation.
This final phase of archaeological mitigation ahead of residential development saw the excavation of a single area in the central part of the site, where a concentration of potentially prehistoric remains had been identified by the preceding trial trenching.
The results of the excavation were broadly consistent with those of the previous work, with evidence for Early Neolithic, Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age and post-medieval phases of activity.
Features of probable Early Neolithic date included a cluster of three pits that between them contained 18 sherds of Early Neolithic pottery and 74 worked flints. A sample taken from one of these pits was found to contain fragments of hazelnut shell, while samples from the two others both produced a large quantity of charcoal. Small quantities of Early Neolithic pottery were also recovered from a probable natural feature and a pit, although the latter had also produced several Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age sherds when it was partially excavated during the evaluation. The remainder of the Early Neolithic worked flints recovered were either unstratified or residual within later features. It was also established that feature that had produced a particularly large assemblage of Early Neolithic flint during the preceding trial trenching was actually a ditch of post-medieval date – suggesting this had probably been dug through either an earlier feature or a concentration of worked flint within the subsoil.
The small assemblage of Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age pottery recovered during this phase of work also came larger from later features, the one exception being a single sherd found in an otherwise undated pit. It is though likely that at least some of the undated pits uncovered were prehistoric in date and it is suggested that two adjacent clusters were potentially associated with the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age phase of activity.
A series of adjoining east-to-west and north-to-south ditches clearly represented contemporary elements of the same field system. These features were all of probable post-medieval date, with the northernmost east-to-west aligned ditch corresponding with one of the field boundaries that was still extant in the 19th century. Aside from residual prehistoric material the finds from these ditches were exclusively of late post-medieval to modern date, including pottery sherds, brick and tile fragments, pieces of clay tobacco pipe stem, glass and an unidentified iron object. A single fragment of iron smithing slag was also recovered. Two pits containing cow and pig skeletons were also almost certainly post-medieval or later in date.
See report (S6) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 1 February 2024.

An archive comprising material from the 2020 and 2021 phases of work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2020.144).
P. Watkins (HES), 1 February 2024.