NHER 65673 (Monument record) - Multi-period remains including Middle Saxon to medieval pits

January-February 2019. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
Numerous pits was recorded in the southernmost trench (adjacent to Church Hill) but only sparse, scattered remains in the five trenches excavated elsewhere. It is however possible that remains were obscured by a probable alluvial deposit that was present beneath the subsoil across much of the site and only partially removed in three of the trenches. In the northernmost trench only exploratory sondages were excavated through this deposit, revealing an underlying dark brown, organic possible peat deposit, the top of which lay at between 0.9 and 1.25 m below ground level. A single sherd of undiagnostic Late Prehistoric (but potentially Bronze Age) pottery was recovered from this organic deposit but an environmental sample produced only charcoal fragments and uncharred plant macrofossils likely to represent intrusive modern material. This deposit was not seen in any of the other trenches.
The excavated features were all probably related to activity taking place from the Middle Saxon period onwards. Although there was some evidence for earlier activity this consisted primarily of finds that were clearly residual within later contexts. These early objects included a small number of prehistoric worked flints, Roman pottery sherds and a small assemblage of Roman ceramic building material.
The cluster of remains in the southernmost trench comprised four groups of intercutting pits and several outlying discrete features (a small number were interpreted as linear features but a subsequent excavation demonstrated that all were pits – see below). Several of the stratigraphically earlier pits within the intercutting groups contained only pottery of Middle Saxon and/or Late Saxon date [1] and were therefore potentially the result of Saxon activity, although it should be noted that in all cases the number of sherds present was very small. The later features in these groups contained small quantities of high medieval pottery but nothing of later date. Other finds recovered from these features included lava quern fragments, a fragment of fired clay and animal bone. Samples taken from two of the pits produced little in the way of charred plant macrofossils but they did contain both flake and spheroidal hammerscale, suggesting that iron smithing had been taking place in the vicinity.
The outlying features in this trench were all of much later date, including a sub-circular possible natural feature and an adjacent much larger feature that both produced finds of post-medieval date, including pottery, glass and numerous fragments of ceramic building material. Also recovered from their fills were mussel and cockle shells and a two possible fragments of iron slag. A large, steep-sided feature at the opposite end of the trench contained 'modern' finds of unspecified type that were not retained.
Features elsewhere on the site included a group of intercutting post-medieval pits in the south-west corner of the field. Further back from the road only a small number of undated ditches and pits were recorded. A notable discovery in one of these pits was several bones from a female peregrine falcon, which had probably been used as a falconry bird.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 7 June 2022.

March-April 2019. Excavation.
Partial excavation of proposed development site.
This final phase of archaeological mitigation saw the excavation of a relatively small area in the south-east corner of the site, targeting the main concentration of features identified by the preceding trial trenching.
Numerous additional discrete features and two ditches were recorded, the majority of which appear to have been associated with Middle Saxon and later phases of activity. As during the preceding work evidence for earlier activity was largely restricted to artefacts likely to be residual within later contexts. The early finds recovered during this phase of work included a multi-period assemblage of worked flints (comprising pieces of probable Mesolithic, Mesolithic/Early Neolithic, Neolithic/Bronze and Bronze Age date), a small number of potentially prehistoric pottery sherds, a single Roman pottery sherd, a notable number of additional Roman ceramic building material fragments [2] and several Early Saxon pottery sherds.
The one feature thought to relate to an earlier phase of activity was an east-to-west aligned ditch that produced a single sherd of prehistoric pottery. The alignment of this ditch (which suggests it bore no relation to the nearby road) and the leached appearance of its fill are both also seen as indicative of an early date, although it should be noted that it also contained single sherds of Middle and Late Saxon pottery (both regarded as intrusive).
This phase of work saw the recovery of a significant number of additional Middle and Late Saxon pottery sherds (42 and 91 respectively), although this material was again mostly residual within contexts that also produced medieval pottery. The small number of features that could be tentatively assigned a Saxon date were all pits, the majority of which lay within the dense group identified by the preceding trenching. The most notable of these was a substantial sub-circular feature which was shown by hand augering to be approximately 3m deep. This was initially thought to be a well, although its fills suggested it was potentially a cesspit. Its lowest fill (only seen during augering) was a dark organic deposit, which was overlain by a dark blueish grey clayey silt, which was in turn sealed by a mid-orangey grey silty clay interpreted a possible capping layer. Apart from a single fragment of ceramic building material all finds recovered came from the uppermost fills. These deposits produced over 50% of the animal bone found during this phase of work, including several fragments with cessy material adhering to them.
A larger number of features were of probable medieval date, including a north-east to south-west aligned ditch and a dispersed group of pits exposed to the north of the pits clusters identified by the trial trench. The pottery recovered from these features also pointed to sustained activity on the site, with the assemblage comprising roughly equal amounts of early and high medieval sherds. A number of pits could be tentatively dated to the earlier part of the period, but the bulk of the early medieval pottery was found alongside later sherds.
Notably only a single sherd of late medieval pottery was recovered, suggesting the main phase of activity at this location has probably culminated by the end of the 14th century.
Other finds recovered from the Saxon and medieval pits included a sandstone whetstone, animal bones and fragments of iron slag (including a probable smithing hearth base). As during the preceding phase of work samples taken from the pit fills were found to contain only sparse assemblage of charred plant macrofossils. Hammerscale was though again noted in several of the samples.
A number of the larger pits in the southern half of the excavated area were of probable late post-medieval to modern date, including a band of sub-rectangular features adjacent to the southern edge of the field that were probably the result of mineral extraction. These contained a range of finds including a dumps of bottles that potentially represented waste from cider production. The site is shown as an orchard on the Ordnance Survey First Edition Six Inch map (S2) and it is likely that a number of the late post-medieval/modern features were associated with the planting and removal of these fruit trees.
See report (S3) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 8 June 2022.

An archive comprising material from both phases of work at this site has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2019.74).
P. Watkins (HES), 27 July 2023.