NHER 69139 (Monument record) - Undated ditch and possible pit and post-medieval field boundaries

October-December 2013. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with installation of new sewer pipeline (Field E).
The working easement was stripped of topsoil to a depth of 0.34-0.42m, with three machine-dug test holes demonstrating that the surviving subsoil was at least 0.25m deep. One of these test holes exposed an undated north-to-south aligned ditch, the fill of which contained a fragment of iron tag slag. The initial topsoil stripping revealed three additional ditches, all of which corresponded with two former field boundaries depicted on the Wymondham tithe map (S1) – both of which had survived into the latter half of the 20th century. A range of relatively recent finds were recovered from these features, including late post-medieval/modern pottery, post-medieval ceramic building material fragments, pieces of post-medieval clay tobacco pipe stem, post-medieval glass bottles, a roof slate and two modern iron stakes. These ditches were exposed again during the subsequent excavation of the pipe trench itself. An undated possible pit and a modern land drain were also recorded. Several other possible features were most likely of natural origin.
A small number of unstratified finds were recovered at this location, including a post-medieval pantile fragment and additional pieces of late post-medieval/modern pottery.
See report (S2) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.225).
P. Watkins (HES), 9 May 2025.