NHER 64625 (Monument record) - Truncated remains of Roman road and other, undated features

February-March 2019. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometer survey of proposed development site.
The one response of clear archaeological significance was a weak, intermittent linear response in the southern part of the site that is likely to be associated with a previously recorded Roman road (NHER 19725). There was however no evidence for surviving sub-surface remains associated with parallel cropmarks thought to potentially represent roadside ditches.
A number of other linear anomalies clearly correspond with former field boundaries depicted on the Wymondham tithe map of 1839 (S1).
Various discrete magnetic spikes are likely to represent ferrous objects in the topsoil.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 12 February 2021.

February-March 2019. Metal-detecting Survey.
Systematic survey of southern half of proposed development site.
Although 100 metal objects were recovered these were all of probable late post-medieval or modern date. The vast majority are iron and probably derived from mechanical agricultural machinery. Other objects include horse shoes, nails and a copper ally sack tag.
Information from report uploaded to OASIS. HER copy awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 12 February 2021.

June 2019. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
A total of 16 trenches were excavated, three of which were positioned to target the line of the Roman road that crossed the southernmost part of the site (NHER 19725). In the westernmost of these three trenches only the faintest trace of the road was identified. It was however better preserved to the east, surviving as a broad shallow feature containing firm silty clay deposits. This material is similar to the surviving remains of the road observed in a small excavation to the rear of 61 Norwich Common, immediately to the east of this site (NHER 64624). It is suggested that slightly more pronounced undulations at the margins of this feature represented the remains of roadside ditches, although their profiles are perhaps too broad and shallow for this to be the case. A single sherd of Roman pottery was the only find recovered from the road deposits.
Although the remains of the road are clearly significantly truncated (particularly at the western edge of the site) it is notable that a pre-excavation contour survey of the site nevertheless suggested that its line is associated with a slight rise in ground level.
In most places there was no evidence for surviving sub-surface remains associated with the cropmarks running parallel to this section of the road that had been interpreted as representing roadside ditches. The exception was a reasonably substantial east-to-west aligned ditch to the south of the road deposits in the middle trench. The position of this ditch suggests that it could represent a continuation of a feature associated with the southern cropmark (which was not mapped as continuing this far east), although given that it wasn’t seen to continue into either of the adjacent trenches its nature is uncertain.
The trenches excavated elsewhere on the site revealed only a small number of scattered features, none of which produced any dating evidence. These included several unremarkable possible pits and two north-east to south-west aligned ditches, features interpreted as ditch termini and a single possible post-hole. None of these features had been identified by the preceding geophysical survey, although this is unsurprising given their size and the ground conditions.
Information from draft report. Final version awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 12 February 2012.