NHER 63365 (Monument record) - Post-Roman and undated features and prehistoric finds

2004-2005. Desk-based Assessment.
Archaeological assessment of possible routes for Norwich Northern Distributor Road.
See reports (S1) and (S2) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 4 July 2019.

April-August 2015. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of site on proposed line of Norwich Northern Distributor Road (Field F1a).
The 10 trenches excavated at this location revealed a number of potentially archaeologically-significant features, including ditches, pits and natural features.
There was artefactual evidence for at least some degree of prehistoric activity on or near the site, but none of the features could be firmly dated to these periods. Stratified prehistoric finds included a Middle Bronze Age pottery sherd recovered from a north-west to south-east aligned ditch and a Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age sherd that was found in one of the probable pits. Both features were otherwise undated.
A small number of burnt and worked flints were also recovered, although it is likely that the majority were residual in the contexts in which they were found. The worked flints include a possible blade of potential Mesolithic/Early Neolithic date and a number of Neolithic/Bronze Age flakes.
Features of probable later date included a pit in the northern part of the site that produced a small assemblage of Late Saxon and early medieval pottery sherds. An adjacent possible gully produced a single Late Saxon pottery sherd.
Layers of colluvium or hill-wash were present in the lower-lying parts of the site.
Although two of the trenches coincided with a previously identified fragmentary linear cropmark (NHER 53485) no corresponding sub-surface remains were identified.
See report (S3) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 7 May 2019.

November 2020-March 2021. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometer survey of site on proposed route of Norwich Western Link (Area 1).
This survey of the northern part of the site revealed nothing of definite archaeological interest. The most notable responses are two east-north-east to west-south-west aligned linear anomalies, both of which are regarded as being of undetermined origin. Various discrete and amorphous anomalies at the western edge of the site are probably the result of variations in the underlying geology.
There was no evidence for surviving subsurface remains associated with a north-east to south-west aligned linear cropmark visible on aerial photographs at the eastern end of the site (part of a group of undated probable field boundaries recorded as NHER 53485).
See report (S4) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 13 June 2026.

May-July 2022. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of site on proposed route of Norwich Western Link (Field TT23; Trenches 4-9).
Six trenches were excavated in the area to the north of the strip investigated in 2015. These revealed four ditches and two pits, none of which produced any dating evidence. The ditches included an east-north-east to west-south-west aligned feature that coincided with one of the linear anomalies identified by the preceding geophysical survey. The three other ditches were all aligned north-north-east to south-south-west. The two pits were both sub-circular features that produced nothing to indicate their date or function.
See report (S5) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 13 June 2026.