NHER 63592 (Monument record) - Medieval and undated features

January 2014. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
The seven trenches excavated revealed a range of linear and discrete features, the majority of which were probably associated with medieval or later phases of activity.
The features of probable medieval date were concentrated in the southern half of the site and included a cluster of at least ten pits (some of which remained unexcavated). Samples taken from the fills of these pits produced a range of material likely to represent domestic waste, along with large amounts of what appeared to be metal slag. A number of ditches were also present in this part of the site, all of which were aligned roughly north-to-south or east-to-west. Medieval pottery was recovered from two of the east-to-west aligned features, although the deposit that contained the larger assemblage also produced a post-medieval crotal bell. The other ditches were all undated, including a large north-to-south aligned feature that potentially continued the line of a similarly-aligned cropmark feature mapped in the field to the north (NHER 54747).
The bulk of the medieval pottery assemblage dates to the earlier part of the period, with the presence of some later material suggesting activity continued into at least the 13th century; although it was probably in decline from this point onwards. It was noted that the fabric of the early medieval pottery is similar to that of one of the later coursewares - which may represent evidence of a local production site that continued into the 13th century.
Features in the northern half of the site included three possible north-west to south-east aligned ditches and a single possible pit, all of which were undated.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 2 August 2019.