NHER 69858 (Find Spot record) - Roman, medieval to post-medieval and post-medieval to modern finds

March 2014. Test Pitting.
Excavation of two test pits by local school children as part of the Higher Education Field Academy (HEFA) programme run by Access Cambridge Archaeology.

The westernmost of the two test pits (ACL/14/5) was located at [1] and did not reach natural geological deposits, excavation being halted at a depth of 0.52m due to time constraints. Finds recovered included:
2 medieval pottery sherds.
4 late medieval/early post-medieval pottery sherds.
2 post-medieval pottery sherds and 2 clay tobacco pipe stem fragments.
18 late post-medieval/modern pottery sherds.
This test pit also produced a range of other finds that were not subject to specialist examination, the majority of which are either of probable late post-medieval to modern date or inherently undatable. These additional objects include 6 flat tile fragments and 74 unidentified ceramic building material fragments, pieces of bottle, vessel and probable window glass, a buckle, a metal bucket, a metal 'D'-shaped hoop, 2 iron nails, 10 corroded iron scraps, 4 iron lumps and 3 oyster shells.

This easternmost test pit (ACL/14/6) was located at [2] and did not reach natural geological deposits, excavation being halted at a depth of 0.90m due to time constraints. Finds recovered included:
3 Roman pottery sherds.
5 medieval pottery sherds.
2 late medieval/early post-medieval pottery sherds.
4 post-medieval pottery sherds and 7 clay tobacco pipe fragments.
18 late post-medieval pottery sherds.
This test pit also produced a range of other finds that were not subject to specialist examination, the majority of which are either of probable late post-medieval to modern date or inherently undatable. These additional objects include
5 flat tile fragments, 2 curved tile fragments, a black-glazed tile fragment, 76 unidentified ceramic building material fragments, pieces of bottle and probable window glass, 2 iron nails, 8 pieces of iron slag and an oyster shell.

For further details, including a wider discussion of the results of the HEFA test pitting surveys undertaken in Acle between 2009 and 2014 see report (S1), which incorporates information from pottery report (S2).
P. Watkins (HES), 12 May 2026.