NHER 65144 (Monument record) - Post-medieval and undated ditches and modern garden features

May 2014. Desk-based Assessment.
Assessment of potential impact of proposed development.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 5 July 2023.

July 2018. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometer survey of proposed development site.
Although this survey identified a range of linear and discrete anomalies the majority are likely to represent the remains of modern features. The site was once an area of parkland associated with Sprowston Grange (now The Racecourse Public House) and Ordnance Survey maps show that an increasingly elaborate arrangement of wooded plantations and other features were added between the 1930s and 1950s. The geophysical anomalies correspond with various features depicted on these maps, including the boundaries of several former plantations and a circular feature in the centre of the field that was probably some form of pond or fountain. A series of parallel linear anomalies in the south-east corner of the site were probably associated with a small orchard shown at this location.
Most of these features had been removed by the 1960s (by which time the site was in use as a golf course).
Several linear anomalies in the northernmost part of the site don’t appear to be related to any of the 20th-century garden features and may therefore represent earlier remains.
A small number of scattered discrete anomalies were also regarded as being of undetermined origin and therefore potentially archaeologically-significant (although geological or agricultural origins are also possible).
Numerous dipolar responses were probably caused by ferrous material in the soil (most likely modern debris).
There was no evidence for remains associated with the World War Two anti-tank ditch known to have run along the southern boundary of the site (NHER 51893). It should though be noted that the mapped location of this feature indicates it probably lay beyond the area surveyed.
Information from draft report. Final version awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 19 July 2021.

April-May 2019. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
The 33 trenches excavated revealed only a small number of undated ditches and several unremarkable discrete features. There was little correspondence between the results of this work and the preceding geophysical survey, which had identified none of the excavated ditches. The fact that there is little apparent relationship between the ditches and the 20th-century garden features depicted on Ordnance Survey maps suggests they were probably associated with agricultural activity on the site prior to the establishment of the park. Although no dating evidence was recovered from the ditches, none were thought to be of any great antiquity. In most, if not all, cases their cuts were clearly visibly within the subsoil layer and several were also observed to contain fragments of what appeared to be 'modern' brick. Features that were unquestionably late post-medieval in date included a group of adjacent north-north-west to south-south-east aligned ditches, one of which was observed to truncate a field drain. These ditches also correspond with a rough line of trees shown on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey Six-inch map (S2), which presumably represented the surviving traces of an associated former field boundary.
No finds were recovered during this work.
See report (S3) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2019.230).
P. Watkins (HES), 19 July 2021.