NHER 60815 (Monument record) - Late Saxon charcoal-production pits and other, post-medieval and undated remains

October 2010-April 2011. Trial Trenching.
Excavation of trench at proposed site for directional drilling pit on route of Earlham Grid to Norwich Main Underground Diversion cable (Trench 7).
This trench in the south-west corner of the field revealed no archaeologically-significant features or deposits.
No finds were recovered.
No subsoil deposit was present.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 20 March 2021.

March-September 2012. Watching Brief.
Examination of easement stripped during installation of underground electricity cable along western edge of field (Area 1).
No archaeologically-significant features were observed.
It should though be noted that conditions were far from ideal, as the easement was not stripped under archaeological supervision and at this location the cable had already been installed by the time monitoring commenced.
A single unstratified sherd of post-medieval was recovered in this field.
See report (S2) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 7 August 2021.

This site records a programme of archaeological investigation in advance of development to the west and south of the link road. For other sites related to this work, see NHERs 40130, 40132-40133, 40135, 40940 and 60815.
H. Hamilton (HES), 08 June 2015.

March 2013. Desk-based Assessment.
Assessment of large proposed development area.
See report (S3) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 19 November 2018.

March 2013. Geophysical Survey. Sectors 3 and 4.
A detailed magnetometer survey was carried out over three areas, encompassing approximately 44 hectares of land in total, in advance of development. Each area was comprised of several fields. Sectors 3 and 4 of this survey included a large field to the west of Round House Way and north of the A11.
No magnetic anomalies of archaeological origin were identified within this portion of Sectors 3 and 4.
The majority of the magnetic responses within this area are indicative of compositional changes in the soils and superficial ferrous deposits within the topsoil. A large area of magnetic disturbance along the western edge of the survey area was caused by the presence of an electricity pylon.
See reports (S4) and (S5) for further information.
H. Hamilton (HES), 30 March 2015.

February 2019. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site to west of Round House Way (the northern and easternmost parts of which were clipped by earlier geophysical surveys recorded under NHER 40132 and 40130).
The 28 trenches excavated revealed scattered discrete and linear features in the central and southern parts of the site, the majority of which produced little or no dating evidence.
Of greatest interest were eight shallow pits with notably charcoal-rich fills, several of which also had heat reddened sides suggestive of in situ burning/heating. Although likely to have been the result of similar activities these features varied in size, with some distinctly larger than others. Single fragments of post-medieval pottery and clay tobacco pipe were found on the surface of two of these features and another produced a fragment of modern looking glass (the latter apparently not retained). These ‘charcoal pits’ were the subject of further analysis and are discussed in more detail below.
The other discrete features investigated were largely unremarkable, with the majority regarded as probable tree throw hollows. Finds were limited to a single fragment of clay tobacco pipe recovered from one of the more convincing pits (part of a comparatively rare curved-stem pipe) and a single post-medieval pottery sherd found in a nearby natural feature. A large probable quarry pit partially exposed in two trenches at the southern edge of the site also produced several sherds of post-medieval pottery.
Probable ditches were recorded in seven of the trenches and are all of uncertain date, having produced no finds and displaying a variety of alignments. It is though suggested that a number of narrow, somewhat sinuous north-west to south-east and north-east to south-west aligned features with leached fills could be associated with fairly early (potentially prehistoric) phase of activity. There are no corresponding former boundaries depicted on the available 19th-century and later maps.
See report (S6) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2019.78).

Samples from the fills of the ‘charcoal pits’ were found to contain abundant wood charcoal and only very small quantities of other plant macrofossils (at least some of which were potentially intrusive). Further analysis of the charcoal from seven of the pits demonstrated that all of the assemblages are dominated by oak charcoal, the majority of which could be identified as heartwood. Radiocarbon dating of roundwood charcoal from four pits returned dates with calibrated ranges that span the Middle Saxon to early medieval period (778-988 cal AD, 778-986 cal AD, 883-990 cal AD and 982-1147 cal AD at 95% probability). The date for one of the features does though fall entirely within the Late Saxon period and although those for the other pits had slightly broader ranges, they were also most probably Late Saxon. The virtual absence of evidence for other activity during this period indicates these features were most likely associated with a relatively marginal activity. It is probable that most, if not all, of these pits were related to charcoal production, which is also thought to be the function of the many similar features that have now been uncovered at sites in the vicinity of Norwich and its wider environs. The form of the features is directly comparable with that of those found elsewhere, as are a number of other traits, such as the patchy, inconsistent nature of the heat reddening to their margins. The dominance of oak heartwood in the charcoal samples is also paralleled elsewhere, suggesting an organised, deliberate collection strategy. The fact that this wood would have required felling and chopping indicates a degree of investment in wood procurement than only charcoal production can really account for (given the variety of other wood and kindling that would be available for campfires and the like). It is suggested that some of the pits may have received dumps of hot debris from processes taking place nearby (which could still account for the light scorching seen), possibly as part of attempts to control the risk of unintentional fires (although how prone woods would be to these is debatable). It is however probable that the larger pits at least formed part of the charcoal clamps themselves, their fills containing the debris left once all the useable grades of charcoal had been removed.
Information from supplementary report (S7), which also includes a draft of a forthcoming published article on these probable charcoal production pits.
P. Watkins (HES), 23 March 2021.