NHER 62739 (Monument record) - Undated ditches, pit and post holes and Mesolithic to Early Bronze Age finds

January 1998. Desk-based Assessment.
Study of proposed South Gorleston Development Area.
An aerial photographic assessment undertaken as part of this work identified and mapped a range of potentially archaeologically significant cropmark features. Those at this location included a probable enclosure and associated boundaries and various other probable field boundaries. A World War Two searchlight site was also noted.
These cropmark features are now recorded separately - the probable enclosure and its associated features as NHER 45053 and the other various other ditches under NHERs 45052 and 45056. The World War Two searchlight battery is recorded as NHER 42518.
See report (S1) for further details. This assessment is also noted in (S2).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 7 January 2019.

August 1998. Trial Trenching.
Partial evaluation of South Gorleston Development Area (Stage 1; Trenches 15-20).
Five of the six trenches excavated at this location were positioned to target cropmarks that appeared to represent elements of two distinct field systems (now recorded as NHERs 45052 and 45053). Trenches placed to investigate a probable enclosure at TG 5129 0225 (NHER 45053) successfully identified ditches likely to have formed western and southern sides. Finds recovered included prehistoric flint flakes, two sherds of Roman pottery and a fragment of lava quern. A nearby ditch produced a much larger assemblage of Roman pottery, although the alignment of this feature suggests that it was more likely to have been associated with the field system now recorded as NHER 45052. Other features identified within the interior of the probable enclosure included three pits, none of which produced any convincing dating evidence.
Several trenches were also excavated to investigate a series of apparent intersections between cropmarks likely to have been associated with the enclosure and those that appear to have formed part of the second field system. These revealed a number of ditches, although unfortunately no finds were recovered. It did however appear that those likely to be broadly contemporary with the enclosure (NHER 45053) probably post-dated the ditches associated with the second field system (NHER 45052).
A sixth trench that was placed to investigate an artefact scatter identified by an earlier fieldwalking survey (see NHER 60114) revealed no archaeologically significant finds.
Unstratified finds recovered during the excavation of these trenches included a possible fragment of a Roman tegula roof tile.
See report (S3) for further details. The results of this work are also noted in (S4).
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2016.194).
Previously recorded under NHER 11787.
P. Watkins (HES), 7 January 2019.

February-March 2010. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with installation of underground electrical cables.
The cable trench excavated through this field revealed three possible ditches, none of which produced any dating evidence. These included a north-east to south-west aligned ditch at TG 5142 0229 that was possibly a continuation of one of several potentially Roman cropmark features recorded to the west (NHER 45053). An adjacent north-to-south aligned ditch was probably a post-medieval feature. The third ditch was an isolated north-east to south-west aligned feature in the northern half of the field.
There was no evidence for the World War Two searchlight battery known to have lain close to the route of the cable trench (NHER 42518).
See report (S5) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 10 May 2018.

July 2014. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed route of A12-A143 Link Road (Trenches 20-26).
Several of the trenches excavated in this field revealed potentially archaeologically significant remains, including a number of ditches, a pit and two possible post-holes. Dating evidence was however extremely limited, with most of the features producing either no datable finds or only small numbers of prehistoric worked flints. Four of the ditches were aligned north-east to south-west, the northernmost of which produced a fragment of modern brick. The single north-to-south aligned ditch was potentially a post-medieval feature: possibly corresponding with a boundary shown on the late 19th-century 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map.
The three discrete features were unremarkable and also produced little in the way of dating evidence.
The small assemblage of prehistoric worked flints recovered was clearly the result of activity during several distinct periods, comprising a Mesolithic burin, an Early Neolithic side scraper and several implements of probable Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age date.
See report (S6) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 9 May 2018.

January-July 2015. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with construction of A12-A143 Link Road.
No archaeologically significant features or deposits were recorded during the stripping of subsoil from this section of the road corridor.
See report (S7) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 14 May 2018.

An archive that probably comprises material from both phases of work associated with the A12-A143 Link Road (July 2014 and January-July 2015) has now been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2016.248).
P. Watkins (HES), 28 June 2021.