NHER 66440 (Monument record) - Undated and post-medieval ditches

March-April 2021. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometer survey of site on proposed route of Anglian Water Grantham to Bexwell pipeline (Area 214).
This survey identified several north-west to south-east and north-east to south west aligned linear anomalies at the western end of the site, all of which potentially represent infilled ditches. The position and orientations of these anomalies suggest they may well be related to a number of linear responses identified in the field to the west (NHER 66439), which are thought to represent a series of field or enclosure boundaries. Several discrete anomalies were also identified as potentially archaeologically significant.
The majority of the other anomalies identified at this location are probably the result of agricultural activity.
Information from draft report. Final version awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 17 November 2022.

November 2021-March 2022. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of site on route of Anglian Water Grantham to Bexwell pipeline (Area 13; Trenches 67 and 68).
The two trenches excavated at this location revealed a total of seven ditches, none of which produced any dating evidence. The majority were aligned roughly north-west to south-east, including a feature at the southern edge of the site that was probably associated with one of the more distinct geophysical anomalies. The nature of the two perpendicular linear anomalies remains uncertain as neither coincided with the excavated trenches. It does though seem reasonably likely that they represent some form of rectinear enclosure, the northern side of which was potentially formed by one of the additional ditches revealed in this area.
A single north-east to south-west aligned ditch recorded was potentially related to a similarly-aligned former field boundary depicted on the Wimbotsham Tithe map of 1840 (S1).
Only one discrete feature was recorded – a probable tree-throw hollow at the southern edge of the site that was found to contain a single sherd of Late Iron Age pottery sherd (the only find recovered at this location).
Information from draft report. Final version awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 17 November 2022.