NHER 8510 (Monument record) - Neolithic, post-medieval and undated remains and possible site of windmill(s)

1966.
About 150 yard [137m] west-north-west of police station:
Cropmark seen on ground, rectangular with annexe, ?building outline.
Details received from [1].
Information from (S1).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 21 April 2021.

This is approximately the site of Acle Windmill as marked on (S2).
18th century post mill replaced by tower mill in 1836; last mentioned in 1907 but on (S3).
Details received from [2].
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU) 29 January 1982. Information from (S4).

But [3] says a postmill here in 1633; a double windmill here in 1768; tower mill pre 1821.
[3] also says field known as Hall Meadow in 1633, see NHER 8608, this is also said to be the site of the rectory.
E. Rose (NAU).

'A few years' pre 1998.
Cropmarks seen.
See letter and sketch plan in file.
D. Gurney (NLA) 30 March 1998.

September 1998. Fieldwalking. [4].
Earthwork of old road.
Scatter of medieval and later pottery.
Details to follow from NCM.
D. Gurney (NLA) 14 September 1998.

May 2007. Norfolk NMP.
No sign of the large rectangular cropmark enclosure was recorded at this site. A number of linear features and trackways were identified and are recorded under NHER 49499. A number of geological cropmarks were also dominant in this area.
To the immediate northwest of this field a ring ditch with a central cross pit was mapped (NHER 49498) and this is likely to be the remains of the 1633 post mill referred to above.
S. Massey (NMP), 29 May 2007.

September 2013. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometer survey of proposed development site.
Potentially archaeologically significant anomalies included two very weak, discontinuous parallel west-north-west to east-south-east aligned linear anomalies in the central part of the site. These may represent the remains of ditches that defined a trackway and are potentially related to a third, perpendicular linear anomaly immediately to the south. These anomalies do not appear to correspond with any the fragmentary linear cropmarks that have previously been identified in this area (NHER 49499). In fact, none of the mapped cropmark features can be convincingly associated with any of the geophysical anomalies, suggesting that any subsurface features that were once present may have been lost (or at least significantly eroded).
Other possible evidence for archaeologically-significant remains includes two pairs of fairly large, discrete anomalies; one in the centre of the site and the other at its eastern edge. Whilst these could be geological in origin it is possible that they represent large pits or areas of burning. A north-north-east to south-south-west aligned linear trend anomaly is associated with a former field boundary that was present until at least the 1940s (when it is visible on aerial photographs).
Other notable anomalies include two extensive areas of magnetic disturbance. One is at the southern edge of the site, at the south-western end of what appears to be a dry valley. It may represent an area of infilling, perhaps of a small extraction pit. Some form of disturbance is visible in this location on the 1946 aerial photographs and corresponding cropmarks can be seen on recent aerial imagery. It is possible that these cropmarks (which appear to be, on occasion, quite distinctive) are the features observed "west north west" of the Police Station in 1966. Presumably the probable dry valley may also be the 'earthwork of old road' noted in 1998 (see above). The second large anomaly covers a rectangular area immediately to the south of Mill Farm and may represent the remains of a demolished building or structure. It is suggested that this may have been the site of Acle Windmill, although as noted above it seems clear that this lay to the north-west (NHER 49498).
The various other anomalies detected by the survey are thought to be of little archaeological significant, the majority being of either geological origin or the result of the current agricultural regime. Isolated dipolar anomalies are likely to have been caused by the present of ferrous material in the soil.
See report (S5) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 12 October 2016.

February-March 2014. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
The 25 trenches excavated revealed a sparse scatter of linear and discrete features.
Worked flints recovered from a number of features provide evidence for activity during multiple prehistoric periods, although the quantities are very small and most of this material was probably residual in later features. The only features that could be confidently identified as prehistoric were two adjacent pits exposed at the northern edge of the site, both of which had charcoal-rich primary fills containing Late Neolithic Grooved Ware pottery. One of these pits had scorched margins, suggesting that burnt material had been dumped whilst still hot. Samples taken from the charcoal-rich deposits were found to contain significant quantities of burnt hazelnut shells, along with several barley and wheat grains and small fragments of bone (some burnt/calcinated). Several smaller discrete features (including a definite post-hole) close to these pits were undated but potentially of a similar age. An adjacent north-west to south-east aligned ditch with a leached primary fill that produced several Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age worked flints was also regarded as a potentially early feature. Also of possible prehistoric date was a small pit or post-hole in a trench to the east that produced two small fragments of prehistoric pottery of a similar fabric to sherds found in association with the Late Neolithic pottery.
Although a small number of abraded Roman sherds were recovered no remains of this date were identified.
The various discrete geophysical anomalies that had been identified as potentially archaeologically-significant were all found to correspond with pits that were mostly of post-medieval or later date. Although several produced medieval finds, all but one also produced post-medieval material, including pottery, clay tobacco pipe fragments and pieces of brick and tile. A group of large pits at the eastern edge of the site produced finds of a later, late post-medieval/modern date.
A north-to-south aligned ditch in the north-western of the site that contained produced post-medieval pottery and brick and tile fragments and corresponds with a former field boundary depicted on the Acle title map of 1838 (S6). A similarly-aligned ditch in the south-west corner of the site was probably also a post-medieval feature.
Although a number of other ditches were identified these all produced little or no dating evidence. These undated features included north-east to south-west and north-west to south-east aligned ditches in the central part of the site that appeared to correspond with the linear geophysical anomalies. One of the latter may also relate to one of the previously recorded cropmarks but overall, as during the preceding survey, there was little correspondence between the remains encountered and the mapped cropmarks - the majority of which were found to have no associated sub-surface remains. The one exception was the north-west to south-east aligned ditch at the northern end of the site, which coincided with one of a pair of a similarly-aligned cropmarks (although there was no trace of any associated remains in the adjacent trench).
Two trenches excavated across a previously identified north-east to south-west aligned hollow or dry valley running through the southern half of the site revealed a substantial natural channel. At its wider, south-western end it contained dumps of modern material that presumably account for the large area of magnetic disturbance identified by the geophysical survey at this location.
No sub-surface features or deposits were associated with the area of magnetic disturbance identified to the south of Mill Farm.
See report (S7) for further details.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.234).
P. Watkins (HES), 21 April 2021.

June 2019. Excavation.
Final phase of work undertaken prior to redevelopment of site.
Two relatively small areas were excavated, both of which targeted selected remains identified by the preceding evaluation. The first (Area A) was in the north-west corner of the site, immediately to the south of the trench where Late Neolithic features had been exposed. This revealed four natural features and two ditches, with both of the latter being continuations of features recorded in adjacent trenches. The largest of the natural features produced 20 prehistoric pottery sherds. These sherds were initially recorded as being Late Neolithic Grooved Ware but subsequent specialist examination identified them as Middle Neolithic Peterborough Ware [5]. A sample taken from the fills of this feature was found to contain moderate amounts of wood charcoal but little else in the way of charred plant macrofossils. This feature also produced a small assemblage of worked flints, the bulk of which consisted of debitage of probable Mesolithic/Early Neolithic date. This, along with similar material from other nearby stratified and unstratified contexts provides further evidence for Mesolithic/Early Neolithic flint working in the vicinity, although in this case the flints were residual within a later feature.
A north-west to south-east aligned ditch was the continuation of a potentially early feature identified in a trench immediately to the north. Although it produced a number of additional worked flints that were in notable fresh or only slightly chipped condition, this material appears to be earlier in date than that previously recovered from this feature, with several pieces identifiable as Early Neolithic (such as an opposed platform blade-and-flake core and a flake with evidence of use-wear). This material at least provides further evidence for the presence of a little-disturbed earlier prehistoric knapping scatter in this part of the site, although here again this material was probably residual within a feature of at least slightly later date. Two samples taken from the fills of this ditch both produced moderate amounts of well-preserved charcoal, although other charred plant macrofossils were limited to a single heavily burnt grain of bread wheat (known to have been cultivated in Britain from the Late Bronze Age onwards).
The second ditch was a continuation of a previously identified north-to-south aligned feature that corresponds with a former field boundary shown on Acle tithe map of 1838 (S6). This produced a small number of finds including a post-medieval pottery sherd, sawn animal bones and an undiagnostic fragment of ceramic building material.
The second excavation area (Area B) was in the central part of the site and was placed across the line of the possible trackway ditches identified by the initial geophysical survey. In the event it was found that virtually the entirely of the excavated area was covered by a large amorphous natural depression. This was between 0.14m and 0.40m deep and produced a small number of prehistoric worked flints. There was no trace of the anticipated linear features.
The small assemblage of unstratified finds recovered comprises prehistoric worked flints (including some unsystematically knapped pieces of later prehistoric date) and small numbers of Roman, Late Saxon/medieval, medieval and post-medieval pottery sherds.
Information from draft assessment report. Final version awaited.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2019.228).
P. Watkins (HES), 21 April 2021.