NHER 65024 (Monument record) - Late Saxon to medieval remains

November 2014-January 2015. Strip Map and Sample Excavation.
Excavation of narrow strip on route of Little Melton to Hethersett Pipeline (Area 5).
This strip to the west and south of All Saints’ Church (NHER 9421) revealed a reasonably dense concentration of ditches, pits and post-holes, the majority of which appear to have been of Late Saxon to medieval date.
Evidence for earlier activity was largely limited to a small assemblage of prehistoric worked flints and small quantities of Iron Age, Roman and Early Saxon pottery. This material was all either recovered from unstratified contexts or likely to be residual within later features.
The pottery recovered suggests that the main phase of activity occurred between the 11th and 13th centuries, with Late Saxon and early medieval wares making up approximately two thirds of the assemblage. The remainder is of high medieval date, with late medieval and post-medieval sherds notably absent.
The features most likely to be of Late Saxon to early medieval date lay primarily in the western half of the site, although pottery of this date was also recovered from many of the later features to the east. Several groups of features were likely to relate to an initial, Late Saxon phase of activity, being found to contain small amounts of pottery of this date and little or no later material. These include a dense, roughly sub-rectangular cluster of 29 post-holes at the northern end of the excavated strip, which potentially represented the remains of some form of building. A number of these post-holes contained one or two sherds of Late Saxon pottery, along with fragments of fired clay. Also potentially Late Saxon in date were two north-north-east to south-south-west aligned ditches to the south and a perpendicular ditch lying between them. Within one of the areas delimited by these ditches was a sub-rectangular pit with post-holes in each of its corners that had presumably supported some from of timber superstructure. This pit also produced a small amount of Late Saxon pottery. Four parallel, narrow, north-to-south aligned linear features to the east of these features were also potentially Late Saxon in date. The nature of these features is uncertain, although it is possible they represented beam slots or construction trenches for some form of timber building.
The features of probable later, medieval date all lay in the eastern half of the excavated area, suggesting the focus of activity has shifted a some point during this period. The remains of probable medieval date included two adjacent north-north-east to south-south-west aligned ditches that possibly represented both the line of a trackway and a significant boundary, with all of the other potentially medieval features lying to the east. These included two additional north-north-east to south-south-west aligned ditches, several east-to-west aligned ditches and various pits. Although a number of scattered post-holes were recorded in this part of the site no potentially structure remains were identified. Other finds recovered from features of probable medieval date included fragments of lava quern, fired clay, a possible iron chisel, a micaceous schist whetstone and fragments of animal bone. Samples taken from the fills of these features were found to contain sparse assemblages of material likely to represent domestic waste, including occasional charred grains, charcoal and fragments of fish and animal bone.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 15 March 2024.

February-March 2017. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometer survey of site on possible route of Hornsea Project Three offshore wind farm onshore cable (GS16).
This site was one of 26 identified as a priority for examination due to their archaeological potential.
The survey identified a number of roughly north-to-south and east-to-west aligned linear anomalies. Two of the north-to-south aligned anomalies correspond with features of probable Late Saxon to early medieval date recorded during the 2014/2015 excavation and it is likely that most, if not, all of the others also represent field boundary ditches of Late Saxon to medieval date.
A number of scattered discrete anomalies were also recorded, although it is thought that these are most likely of natural origin.
An area of increased magnetic response in the south-east corner of the field corresponds with the site of a pond shown on the Ordnance Survey First Edition map (S2).
Information from draft report. Final version awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 15 March 2024.