NHER 67909 (Monument record) - Late Iron Age settlement

November 2016. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
The six trenches excavated revealed extensive archaeological remains, with numerous pits and ditches recorded. Significantly, it appears that the majority of these features were likely to be Late Iron Age, with a large amount of pottery of this date recovered and no later finds.
A total of 314 Late Iron Age pottery sherds were recovered. The assemblage is likely to span the period from the mid- to late 1st-century BC to the 1st-century AD. Although the majority of the vessels represented are handmade, a number are either wheel thrown or slow-wheel finished. Fully Roman forms are though notably absent suggesting activity had most likely ceased at this location before the end of the 1st century AD.
The largest single assemblage of pottery (165 sherds) came from a north-east to south-west aligned ditch and a number of other features were also convincingly dated to the period - including east-to-west and north-to-south aligned ditches and several pits. A single sherd of Iron Age pottery was also recovered from a much narrower, shallow, curvilinear ditch.
Fragments of animal bone were recovered from all of the probable Iron Age features, much of which is identifiable as cattle, sheep/goat or pig/boar. Single elements of horse, dog/fox, rook and hare were also present. Butchery marks in the form of skinning cuts and chop marks were noted on a number of the bones. Other finds recovered included fragments of iron slag, pieces of fired clay and a single worked bone object (a sheep metacarpal with a drilled/punched hole). Samples taken from the fills of the probable Iron Age features produced a range of charred plant macrofossils, with the most notable assemblage being recovered from the ditch that had produced the largest pottery assemblage. This was likely to represent a deposit of prehistoric crop remains, with hulled six-row barley and emmer wheat grains present along with a small range of presumably associated arable weed seeds and chaff.
Overall it seems clear that these features contained domestic waste from some form of nearby settlement.
Given the lack of any later finds it is highly likely that many of the undated pits and ditches were also associated with the Late Iron Age phase of activity. It was though noted that the plant macrofossil assemblage from one of the less-well dated ditches was much more suggestive of a medieval date, comprising a wider range of cereal and pulse crops in the form of free-threshing type wheat, hulled barley, oats, rye and peas. The quantity of grain suggests it was derived from cereal drying or a similar processing activity.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 2 February 2024.

October 2019-January 2020. Excavation.
Excavation of footprints of several new residential dwellings.
This work uncovered various ditches and pits of probable Late Iron Age date, a number of which had presumably been identified during the preceding trial trenching. Some evidence for medieval activity was also recorded.
Unfortunately, it appears there is currently little prospect of a report on this work and the archive has yet to be secured.
The only available records are photographs taken during monitoring visits (S2) and several sketch plans created during these visits (S3).
P. Watkins (HES), 5 February 2024.