NHER 68306 (Monument record) - Potentially prehistoric and undated remains

November-December 2022. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
The seven trenches excavated identified a number of pits and ditches, the majority of which lay in the eastern half of the site. Although prehistoric and Roman finds were recovered the quantities are very small, with the majority of the excavated features producing little or no dating evidence.
The archaeologically-significant remains were concentrated in the eastern half of the site, with those of greatest interest being a diffuse scatter of pits with very dark, charcoal-rich fills that contained significant quantities of burnt flint. Shallow spreads of similar material were also identified in this area. Finds in this part of the site were limited to a small number of worked flints of possible Bronze Age/Iron Age date and several Iron Age and Roman pottery sherds – all of which are small and abraded. A small quantity of fired clay was also recovered, including one piece with a flat facet that could represent part of the lining from an oven or hearth-type feature (although this came from an undated ditch and so cannot be securely associated with the nearby pits). Samples of the dark pit fills were found to contain large quantities of charcoal (both oak and unidentified roundwood) but little else in the way of charred plant macrofossils or other debris. The nature of the activity that generated this waste is therefore uncertain, although the burnt flint may represent material that had been used to heat or boil water (i.e. similar to the larger prehistoric accumulations often referred to as 'burnt mounds'). This suggestion is possibly supported by the fact these features are clustered around a large sediment-filled hollow tentatively interpreted as a former pond. An exploratory slot dug into this feature couldn't reach its base as the water table was encountered, although subsequent augering suggested it was approximately 1.6m deep. Analysis of a monolith sample taken from the base of the hand-excavated portion of the feature suggested it had acted as a closed sedimentary sink in which sediments had accumulated over an extended period under the same low energy conditions. There was evidence for a fluctuating water table but no visible banding or lamination that would indicate sedimentation in standing water - although this may be the result of post-depositional mixing. Unfortunately pollen preservation proved to be poor, with very low concentrations in both of the samples processed. The evidence is therefore not inconsistent with this having been a pond, though not conclusive. Finds from this feature included a small number of additional worked flints and sherds of Iron Age pottery, with the latter all recovered from its upper margin.
There was little evidence for significant post-Roman activity on the site, with later finds limited to two sherds of post-medieval pottery and single fragments of post-medieval brick and tile – all of which were recovered from two otherwise undated pits in the eastern half of the site.
The undated remains included a number of ditches, the majority of which were aligned roughly north-to-south or north-north-east to south-south-west.
In the western half of the site there was evidence for significant truncation and disturbance in the vicinity of where a ruined farm building had stood prior to its recent demolition. A surviving barn immediately to the south has now been converted to a residential dwelling (NHER 68307).
Few unstratified finds were recovered, with the most notable being part of a broken Neolithic flint axehead roughout that appears to have been reused as a hammerstone. Although metal-detecting took place during the removal of topsoil and subsoil deposits only finds of obviously modern date were recovered.
See reports (S1) and (S2) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2022.332).
P. Watkins (HES), 30 April 2024. Amended 7 January 2025.

February and June 2023. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with construction of two new dwellings and detached garage at eastern end of site (i.e. where the preceding work had demonstrated the presence of significant remains).
The footing trenches excavated revealed no additional features, although it was shown that deposits associated with the large pond-type feature were more extensive than previously thought.
No additional finds were recovered.
See report (S2) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 30 April 2024.