NHER 69658 (Negative evidence record) - Site where limited groundworks revealed no archaeologically-significant remains

November 2018. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of excavation of new service trench between the rear of Nos 18-20 Silvergate Lane (NHER 46090) and the road.
Although this trench was sufficiently deep to encounter natural geological deposits along the majority of its length no archaeologically-significant features were observed. The only remains of note were several brick structures, all of which were of probable 19th-century date and clearly associated with the extant cottages. These included silt traps in the yard area and some form of settling tank or possible cistern to the rear of the cottages. The waterlogged fill of the latter contained pottery, glass and other household waste of late 19th-century to early 20th-century date. Large quantities of brick rubble in the same area probably related to a 20th-century remodelling of the extensions to the rear of the cottages – potentially representing material lain down to consolidate this poorly drained area of land.
The small number of finds recovered elsewhere along the service trench included a flint end scraper of probable Bronze Age date, post-medieval and late post-medieval/modern pottery sherds and a post-medieval clay tobacco pipe fragment.
See report (S1) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2019.170).
P. Watkins (HES), 19 December 2025.