NHER 68434 (Monument record) - Multi-period remains including possible Beaker burial

January 2024. Trial Trenching.
The nine trenches excavated revealed a number of ditches and possible pits; none of which produced any dating evidence. The majority of the ditches do though appear to correspond with cropmarks that form part of an extensive group thought to represent field boundaries of predominantly post-medieval date (NHER 45056). Samples taken from the fills of three of the excavated ditch produced charcoal but little else in the way of charred plant macrofossils or other remains.
Although the excavated trenches also coincided with a number of cropmarks that are potentially associated with Late Prehistoric or Iron Age enclosures and fields none were found to have surviving sub-surface remains.
The majority of the discrete features investigated were deemed to be of likely natural origin and the more convincing pits were all fairly unremarkable features with sterile fills.
No unstratified finds were recovered.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 9 August 2024.

April-May 2024. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
The seventeen trenches excavated revealed numerous linear and discrete features, although these were mostly undated.
By far the most notable feature was an ovoid pit at TG 5182 0238 that contained a substantially complete Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age Beaker vessel (plus a small, presumably residual Late Iron Age pottery sherd). This well-made fineware Beaker vessel had quite possibly been complete when it was placed in this ground – raising the possibility that this feature was a grave (in which the bones of an associated burial had not survived the acidic conditions). Samples from the fill of this feature produced a small amount of charcoal but nothing else of interest. This pit lay approximately 10m to the west of the recorded location of an incomplete circular cropmark thought to represent the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow (NHER 43553). However, the trench excavated at this location revealed no trace of a surviving ditch and only on irregular feature of likely natural origin was encountered within the area enclosed by the circular cropmark.
A trench excavated in the north-west corner of the site coincided with another circular cropmark thought to potentially represent a ring-ditch associated with a Bronze Age round barrow (part of a group of several possible barrows recorded as NHER 43551). Although one of the ditches recorded in this trench appears to have coincided with the north-west side of the cropmark this was very shallow and there was no trace of surviving remains associated with its opposite side. It should be noted that this group of possible barrows is far from the most convincing – this particular cropmark was only tentatively identified as potentially archaeological and previous trial trenching has demonstrated that the largest was actually a modern rubbish pit (see NHER 62738).
No other features of definite or likely prehistoric date were identified. Although possible pits were recorded in many of the trenches the majority appear to have been fairly unremarkable features with sterile fills. Finds were limited to a single sherd of post-medieval/modern pottery.
Virtually all of the ditches recorded were also undated, the most notable exception being an east-to-west aligned ditch at the northern end of the site that produced ten pottery sherds of probable late medieval/early post-medieval date. This feature and a north-to-south aligned ditch recorded in two nearby trenches correspond with cropmarks that form part of an extensive group thought to represent field boundaries of predominantly post-medieval date (NHER 45056).
Another east-to-west aligned ditch further south was of relatively recent date, being found to contain a fragment of post-medieval brick and clearly coinciding with a former field boundary depicted on the Ordnance Survey First Edition Six-inch map (S2).
The remaining ditches produced few finds, although the diversity of their alignments suggests that they probably represented multiple phases of activity. A number of these ditches were likely to relate to the dense, multi-period cropmarks recorded at this location. These included an east-to-west aligned ditch partially exposed in two of the northernmost trenches that corresponds with cropmarks thought to represent a major land boundary of possible Roman date (NHER 43593). This feature appeared to be cut by the north-to-south aligned ditch associated with one of the cropmarks of probable post-medieval date recorded as NHER 45056. A sample from its fill produced charcoal but little else of note. Several ditches also appeared to relate to cropmarks that are part of an extensive group thought to potentially represent Late Prehistoric or Iron Age fields and enclosures (NHER 45055). These included a north-east to south-west aligned ditch at TG 5176 0248 that potentially formed part of one of these enclosures. The relationship between the excavated remains and these cropmarks was though inconsistent, with many of the cropmarks found to have no corresponding sub-surface remains. This was also the case with a dispersed group of undated cropmarks recorded as NHER 45057 – with only one of the four cropmarks investigated found to be associated with a surviving ditch.
Four of the trenches coincided with the location of a World War Two search light battery and possible wireless or radio site (NHER 42518). Remains associated with this wartime activity included a substantial pit-like feature at TG 5177 0238 that represent the remains of a small circular emplacement visible on aerial photographs taken during the 1940s.
Other features that were probably of relatively recent date included several pits containing pig remains (none of which showed evidence of butchery).
No unstratified finds were recovered.
See report (S3) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 9 August 2024.