NHER 69860 (Monument record) - Post-medieval structural remains and Late Saxon, 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 northernmost of the two test pits (ACL/14/8) was located at [1] and did not reach natural geological deposits, excavation being halted at a depth of 0.80m. At a depth of 0.30m a roughly north-to-south aligned mortar wall foundation was exposed, with a group of bricks to the east potentially representing the remnants of a rough internal floor surface. These remains were potentially associated with some form of post-medieval outbuilding - possibly one that appears to be depicted at this location on the Acle tithe map (S1).
Finds recovered included 20 late post-medieval pottery sherds and 2 clay tobacco pipe stem fragments. 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 3 flat tile fragments, 3 brick fragments, 18 unidentified ceramic building material fragments, pieces of bottle, vessel and probable window glass, a piece of wire, a metal rod with loops at each end, 5 iron nails, 2 corroded scraps of iron and a corroded iron lump.

This southernmost test pit (ACL/14/9) was located at [2] and excavated to natural geological deposits, which were reached at a depth of 0.70m. Finds recovered included:
1 Late Saxon pottery sherd.
1 medieval pottery sherd.
11 post-medieval pottery sherds and 6 clay tobacco pipe stem fragments.
55 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 14 flat tile fragments, 1 curved tile fragment, 118 unidentified ceramic building material fragments, 9 slate fragments, a slate pencil, various pieces of bottle, vessel and probable window glass, a metal bracket, a metal toy, 9 iron nails, 3 corroded iron scraps, 5 corroded iron lumps, an unidentified lead object, 6 oyster shells and a whelk 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 (S2), which incorporates information from pottery report (S3).
P. Watkins (HES), 12 May 2026.