NHER 65036 (Monument record) - Late Saxon/medieval ditch and ?post-medieval road or track

November 2020. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
The four trenches excavated revealed a single ditch, an adjacent possible road or track and a modern pit.
The ditch was aligned east-north-east to west-south-west and produced a small assemblage of Late Saxon and early medieval pottery that suggested a probable 11th-century date.
The possible road or track lay to the north of the ditch and comprised a band of chalk fragments and flint nodules that appeared to be set into a slight hollow. Frequent gravel within the overlying topsoil potentially represented material with which it had been dressed. Although parallel to the ditch it is possible that these deposits were associated with a much more recent track. It is clear from 19th-century maps that the site was once part of Burnham Westgate park, straddling the northern edge of a plantation known as The Rookery which ran along its southern side, immediately adjacent to Church Walk. An entrance into the park lay approximately 100m to the west, with the associated access road that bisected The Rookery shown as curving to the east – suggesting it may well have continued directly towards Burnham Westgate Hall (NHER 1768). If this was the case its route may well have coincided with the excavated deposits.
No unstratified finds were recovered.
P. Watkins (HES), 26 May 2021.