NHER 68906 (Monument record) - Middle/Late Saxon, medieval and undated remains

November 2016. Trial Trenching,
Evaluation of proposed development site.
Seven trenches excavated in the western half of the site revealed eight ditches and three pits, the majority of which produced no dating evidence. The one exception was a north-north-west to south-south-east aligned ditch that was found to contain a single pottery sherd of Late Iron Age/early Roman date. Exactly how many features (if any) were associated with activity at this time is unclear.
No unstratified find were recovered.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 10 February 2025.

February 2025. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
Seven trenches excavated in the eastern half of the site revealed a number of pits and ditches, at least some of which appear to have been medieval in date.
The limited evidence for earlier activity included a probable tree-throw hollow in the south-east corner of the site that produced a small assemblage of prehistoric worked flints. Although a sample from the fill of this feature produced some micro-debitage the quantity is less that would be expected for in-situ knapping waste. The flint assemblage also appears to be multi-period and therefore presumably mostly residual - comprising blade-like flakes and a blade of probable Mesolithic/Early Neolithic date, Neolithic/Bronze Age flakes, a Neolithic/Early Bronze Age retouched implement and a group of cruder, potentially Bronze Age/Iron Age flakes. A small number of Roman tile fragments were also recovered, although these all came from later features.
The one feature of definitely earlier date was a relatively small pit with a charcoal-rich fill. A sample from this deposit was found to contain a significant quantity of charcoal (predominantly oak) but little elsewhere in the way of plant macro-fossils. Although no finds were recovered, a piece of hazel charcoal produced a Middle/Late Saxon radiocarbon date of 707-953 cal AD at 95.4% probability (Beta-748582; 1190 +/- 30 BP). It is highly likely that this feature was associated with small-scale charcoal production. A nearby undated pit was potentially of a similar age. A sample from this second pit also contained abundant charcoal, along with a small amount of iron smelting slag – suggesting the charcoal being produced at this location was potentially been used in nearby ironworking activities.
The remains of likely medieval date all lay in the north-east corner of the site and included several ditches and a cluster of pits. The pottery recovered from these features was almost exclusively of high medieval date and was notable for the variety of glazed wares present - including some that would have been unusual in the region and therefore quite prestigious. Many of the sherds do though show a high degree of ware, suggesting the vessels had been used well beyond their usual lifespan and were potentially already secondhand by the time they reached the site. One of the medieval pit also produced a ragstone hone, an iron nail and a fragment of fired clay.
A series of east-north-east to west-south-west aligned ditches were probably associated with a later phase of activity, finds from these features including pottery sherds and a brick fragment of late medieval/early post-medieval date and two post-medieval brick fragments.
No unstratified finds were recovered.
See report (S2) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 28 January 2026.