NHER 66627 (Monument record) - ?Medieval and post-medieval remains

January 2022. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with construction of new garage and recreation block adjacent to existing dwelling.
The narrow foundation trenches excavated revealed two features of possible medieval date - one interpreted as the terminus of a north-north-east to south-south-west aligned ditch and the other as a large pit. Although dating evidence was limited to a small number of abraded medieval pottery sherds, it was noted that both features appeared to lie beneath the reasonably thick subsoil present - suggesting they were probably of some antiquity. The pit also produced a single fragment of animal bone and a small scrap of folded lead. It was most likely a clay extraction pit.
Also recorded was a circular flint and brick lined well. The bricks used in its construction are of 18th- to mid-19th-century date and it is almost certainly the well marked at this location on the Ordnance Survey First Edition 25-inch map (S1). This may have served the adjacent stables of Old Hall Farm (the western end of which have been retained and modified into a garage). Flint cobbles present immediately beneath the modern topsoil and gravel were likely to represent the remains of a metalled trackway running between this former stable block and Church Road.
No unstratified finds were recovered.
See report (S2) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2022.67).
P. Watkins (HES), 19 December 2022. Amended 27 April 2024.