NHER 68672 (Monument record) - Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age, Roman, medieval to post-medieval and undated remains

December 2021. Desk-based Assessment.
Assessment of potential impact of proposed development.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 19 October 2024.

March-April 2024. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
The thirty trenches excavated exposed a relatively small number of scattered ditches and discrete features, which appear to have represented several distinct phases of activity.
The earliest remains were a pair of adjacent pits that both contained small quantities of probable Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age Beaker pottery, along with what were likely to be contemporary worked flints and fragments of burnt flint. As appears to be typical for pit fill contexts of this date the pottery assemblage is fragmentary, with the sherds clearly representing various vessels. The most notable sherd is a handle - which are rare in Beaker assemblages. Samples taken from the fills of these pits both produced charcoal and burnt flint but little else in the way of charred plant macrofossils or other debris.
Also of particular interest was a curvilinear feature with a steep-sided, 'V'-shaped profile exposed in the south-east corner of the site. This contained a small assessblage of early Roman pottery (that is, likely dating to between AD 50 and AD 150) and potentially represented the remains of a roundhouse. Although smaller quantities of Roman pottery were recovered from two other features this material was most likely residual. It is though of interest that the small number of unstratified finds recovered included a fragment of possible Roman box flue tile.
The majority of the other remains exposed were of likely medieval to post-medieval date. These included three large probable post-medieval quarry pits, one at the southern end of the site and two at the western edge. These produced a range of finds, including late medieval/early post-medieval and post-medieval pottery sherds, post-medieval brick and tile fragments, fragments of fired clay, pieces of post-medieval bottle glass and clay tobacco pipe, a post-medieval iron knife, undatable iron nails, undatable unidentified copper alloy, iron and lead objects and fragments of animal bone.
A large feature partially exposed at the eastern edge of the site corresponds with a former pond that can be seen on the Ordnance Survey First Edition Six-inch map (S2).
The majority of the ditches uncovered produced no dating evidence, the one exception being a north-to-south aligned feature that contained a single medieval pottery sherd. It is therefore possible that this and a nearby, perpendicular ditch were medieval or later in date. A north-north-east to south-south-west aligned ditch in the south-east corner of the site was though probably associated with a different (?earlier) phase of activity.
The only other feature recorded was a small undated pit.
See report (S3) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 19 October 2024.