NHER 64432 (Monument record) - Late Saxon/medieval and undated features and multi-period finds

April-June 2018. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with construction of new store and garage.
The subsoil layer present was only fully removed by ground reduction in the eastern half of the site. The features exposed by this work and the subsequent excavation of a soakaway trench included a shallow pit containing raw and unburnt clay that was interpreted as the remnants of an oven or heath. It produced a single sherd of Late Saxon pottery and a pierced oyster shell. Also exposed was a seemingly linear feature that was packed with flint cobbles and may therefore have functioned as a post-pad. Several modern post-holes and a number of probable natural features were also recorded.
A wide range of unstratfied finds were recovered, the majority from the subsoil layer. These include:
3 Roman pottery sherds.
6 Late Saxon pottery sherd.
1 medieval coin and 19 pottery sherds.
1 medieval/post-medieval jetton, 1 pottery sherd, 1 purse bar suspension loop, 3 suspension rings, 2 buckles, 1 strap end, 1 ?knife terminal, 1 ?casket mount, 1 copper alloy vessel fragment, 2 lead spindle whorls and 1 lead window came.
1 post-medieval coin, 8 pottery sherds, 2 clay tobacco pipe stem fragments, 1 mount and 1 button.
2 post-medieval/modern pottery sherds.
8 undatable animal bone fragments and 1 oyster shell.
It is suggested that the spreading of night soil from the town may well account for the presence of much of this material.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 28 August 2020.