NHER 68182 (Monument record) - Potentially prehistoric, Roman, post-medieval and undated remains

February-June 2023. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of part of large proposed development area (Trenches 149-163 and 177-185).
The 24 trenches excavated at this location revealed a range of scattered pits and ditches, the majority of which produced little or no dating evidence.
A small number of potentially prehistoric features were recorded, including two adjacent pits containing small amounts of Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age pottery. A single Late Iron Age sherd was also recovered from one of two adjacent pits recorded in a nearby trench. A sample from the fills of this feature produced a small amount of heavily burnt bone, along with charcoal and fragments of fired clay. A small number of prehistoric worked flints were also recovered, although these were mostly probably residual within later features.
The most notable remains were two Roman pits uncovered at the eastern end of the site. The first was initially identified as a possible cremation, with a small trench extension excavated around this feature then revealing the second Roman pit. Both contained small assemblages of 2nd- to 3rd-century Roman pottery, along with fragments of animal bone and fired clay. One also contained a silver denarius of Sabina and a number of iron nails. Although samples taken from both features were found to contain small amounts of heavily burnt bone, none of these fragments could be positively identified as human (and the small quantities involved would seem to preclude the possibility of these being cremation deposits).
There was little evidence for significant subsequent activity on the site.
Two adjacent north-north-west to south-south-east aligned ditches coincide with a former field boundary shown on the Newton Flotman tithe map (S1), while a similarly-aligned ditch to the west coincides with the line of a feature shown as a footpath on this map and as a field boundary on the subsequent Ordnance Survey First Edition Six-inch map (S2). The later contained post-medieval brick and tile fragments and a post-medieval horseshoe.
The more notable undated remains included layers of dark, charcoal-rich material containing burnt flint that were exposed in three adjacent trenches at the eastern end of the site, finds from which were limited to small crumbs of possible Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age pottery. An undated pit with a notably dark, charcoal-rich was recorded adjacent to one of these deposits. Other undated features included two large probable extraction pits at the western end of the site.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 14 October 2025.