NHER 66665 (Monument record) - Possible medieval saltern mound and post-medieval to modern remains

November 1986. Systematic Fieldwalking Survey.
Site examined as part of Fenland Survey.
A possible medieval saltern mound was identified in the south-west corner of this field, at [1]. This mound rose to a height of approximately 1.5m and appeared to be associated with burnt silt deposits. A single medieval pottery sherd was recovered from its surface.
Information from record card (S1).
Previously recorded under NHER 23063 (Context 2).
P. Watkins (HES), 31 January 2023.

August 2019. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site immediately to south-east of possible saltern mound recorded in 1986.
The four trenches revealed remains of predominantly late post-medieval to early modern date.
The trench excavated closest to the mound demonstrated a significant east-to-west rise in the level of the natural alluvial silts at this location and exposed no possible saltern deposits. The only possible evidence for medieval salt production was a localised dump of fired clay recorded approximately 50m to the south of the mound and tentatively identified as briquetage. However, whilst some of the fragments had smooth surfaces consistent with briquetage a sample taken from this deposit demonstrated that it was primarily composed of fired sandy silts which may represent hearth or floor debris. The presence of a small number of charred cereal grains, marine shells and fragments of hammerscale also suggests that this material may actually primarily represent domestic waste, rather than debris from salt production. The molluscan assemblage includes the shells of snails that are suggestive of tidal influence, but there are also examples of Vallonia excentrica, a land snail that is more indicative of coastal grasslands and perhaps unlikely to have colonised a working saltern site.
In the southernmost part of the site the alluvial deposits were truncated by a number of narrow ditches or gullies, several of which produced post-medieval finds, including pottery sherds and brick fragments.
The only other feature of note was a structure with two parallel brick walls and a cement floor, the fill of which contained late post-medieval/early modern pottery sherds, a fragment of bottle glass of similar date and a piece of enamelled iron sheet. Two residual sherds of handmade early medieval pottery within this deposit were the only medieval finds recovered.
See report (S1) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2020.3).
P. Watkins (HES), 31 January 2023. Amended 27 April 2024.