NHER 65442 (Monument record) - Multi-period remains including prehistoric pits and potentially Roman ditches

October-November 2018. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
The 45 trenches excavated revealed a significant number of linear and discrete features, although unfortunately most produced little or no dating evidence. It was however clear from the finds that were recovered that the site had seen activity during multiple past periods.
Relatively small assemblages of prehistoric work flint and pottery provided evidence for at least some limited activity on the site during multiple periods, although much of this material was either unstratified or potentially residual in later features. A flint blade of probable Mesolithic date was the earliest find and a small number of Mesolithic/Early Neolithic flint blades and blade-like flakes were also recovered, along with a single pottery sherd of possible Early Neolithic date. Although the remainder of the flint assemblage consists largely of fairly undiagnostic flakes it is thought be primarily of later Neolithic/Bronze Age date, with only a small number of cruder and therefore possibly later flakes present. Potentially contemporary material included a small number of Late Neolithic Grooved Ware sherds recovered from a pit within a dense cluster of discrete features of various sizes recorded in a trench in the northern part of the site. Four of the other pits and possible post-holes in this group were found to contain Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age Beaker pottery, with the largest assemblage (36 sherds) including fragments of a relatively rare handled vessel. These sherds are differently weathered, indicating that the broken vessels had lain exposed elsewhere for a time before some of the fragments were buried. Samples taken from the fills of these features produce hazelnut shells but little else of note. Other features of possible Neolithic or Bronze Age date included a pit in the north-east corner of the site that produced the largest stratified assemblage of worked flints (11 largely undiagnostic flakes) and a reasonably large quantity of burnt flint. A sample taken from one of its dark fills produced charcoal but little else in the way of plant macrofossils. Also potentially prehistoric in date was a small possible ring-ditch represented by two adjacent curvilinear gullies recorded in the central part of the site.
Small amounts of Middle and Late Iron Age pottery were also recovered, although these sherds were widely distributed, with no more than a couple recovered from any one feature. There was however evidence for much more sustained activity on or near the site during the Roman period, with more than 100 pottery sherds of this date recovered. This material was however also widely distributed across the site and in most cases present in only quite small quantities. Notable exceptions included two ditches that both produced more than 20 sherds - one at the southern end of the site and one in the northern half. The small number of discrete features that produced Roman pottery included one of a cluster of otherwise undated intercutting pits. A sample from the fill of one of the other pits in this group proved to be one of the most productive, with abundant charred cereal grains and chaff present.
Across much of the site there was only limited evidence for subsequent activity prior to the post-medieval period. Although medieval pottery was recovered the quantities were very small, with the bulk of the assemblage recovered from ditches associated with boundaries extant in the late post-medieval period. The more notable post-Roman features included a series of intercutting ditches in the north-west corner of the site that corresponded with a previously-recorded ‘L’ shaped earthwork visible on aerial photographs (part of a group recorded as NHER 57495). One of these ditches produced a small assemblage of late medieval/early post-medieval pottery but others were found to contain post-medieval pottery and ceramic building material. A similar range of post-medieval material was recovered from an adjacent pit. Other features of post-medieval date included a number of west-north-west to east-south-east aligned ditches that correspond with former field boundaries depicted on the Attleborough tithe map of 1838 (S1).
The diversity of the artefactual material recovered makes it likely that the numerous undated ditches, pits and possible post-holes recorded were associated with multiple phases of past activity. This is certainly true of the undated ditches, the varying alignments of which mean that only some can be tentatively associated with the field system present in the late post-medieval period. It also reasonably likely that many of the undated discrete features were associated with prehistoric or Roman phases of activity.
The small number of unstratified finds recovered included prehistoric worked flints, Late Iron Age and post-medieval pottery sherds, a fragment of post-medieval glass and an iron object of late post-medieval/modern date.
See report (S2) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2019.4).
P. Watkins (HES), 9 March 2022. Amended 20 July 2024.