NHER 65582 (Monument record) - Late Saxon to medieval remains

June 2016. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
The three trenches excavated revealed a number of ditches and pits, most, if not all, of which were probably associated with Late Saxon to medieval phases of activity (although it should be noted that a number produced little or no dating evidence). The pottery recovered includes a range of Late Saxon to early medieval wares, indicating that activity had probably commenced by the 11th century (though not necessarily before this date). However, only one pit could be tentatively assigned a Saxo-Norman date, the remainder of the early pottery being either recovered from unstratified contexts or residual within later features.
Features of a probable later, high medieval date included two adjoining ditches at the western end of the site (parallel and perpendicular to the adjacent road) and a substantial sub-circular pit to the east.
The undated features included north-to-south and north-east to south-west aligned ditches and a number of pits. Two of the latter were found to contain the articulated remains of two horses, along with several sheep/goat bones. The virtual absence of late medieval and post-medieval material suggests these features were most likely of a similar age to the dated examples.
Samples taken from a number of the medieval and undated features were all found to contain charred cereal grains and weed seeds, with the dominance of barley being typical of medieval sites in the region. The lack of chaff and the presence of other debris such as fish bones and scales indicate this material is likely to represent waste from domestic activity. Hand collected animal bones and mussel shells are also likely to represent food waste.
The small number of unstratified finds recovered included a single Roman pottery sherd, the ball from a crotal bell and a fragment of undatable iron slag.
Information from report uploaded to OASIS. HER copy awaited.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2016.399).
P. Watkins (HES), 20 May 2022.