NHER 8814 (Monument record) - Commandry or preceptory of St John of Jerusalem

Site of Commandry of St John of Jerusalem. ('The Battlefield' or 'Knight's Hill').
Various Early Saxon and medieval finds reputedly from this site; also a socketed axe mould.
See full list in file.
E. Rose (NAU) 1 February 1982.

1995. Earthwork Survey.
Survey at 1:1000.
See report (S13) for further details and copy of plan (S14). This site was included in (S15) and the survey is also noted in (S16).
P. Watkins (HES), 4 March 2015.

1996. Additional parchmarks noted by owner, who informed NLA.
Visit added further features to 1995 earthwork survey north-west of main building outline.
Copy in file.
B. Cushion (NLA) August 1996.

August-September 1997. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation revealed walls, possible kiln; Roman and Late Saxon sherds, medieval and post medieval levelling and occupation layers.
See report (S1) in file. The results of this work are also summarised in (S12).
The associated archive has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2013.310 and possible also NWHCM : 2017.418).
E. Rose (NLA), 24 October 1997. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 27 April 2019.

January-March 1998. Excavation.
Excavations exposed the western side of the most south-westerly of the building ranges, consisting of a number of flint and mortar structures, some possible with timber superstructures. A 13th century fishpond, reused as a midden from the 15th century until the Dissolution, revealed large quantities of animal bone, showing that the monastic diet at Carbrooke was wide ranging.
See published report (S11) and assessment report (S2) for further details.
The associated archive has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2013.310 and NWHCM : 2017.418).
A. Cattermole (NLA), 6 April 2005. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 27 April 2019.

Under excellent grass cover, grazed by sheep. A little poaching on bank south of church.
H. Paterson (A&E) 12 April 1998.

Visited at request of Philip Walker (English Heritage) to discuss owner's plans to retain water in the fishponds. Following excessive rainfall, area is already wet and owner has decided against any alterations, as this could cause flooding of the farm drive.
H. Paterson (A&E) 11 May 1999. m

25 April 1994. NLA air photography (S3).
Earthworks visible.
M. Brennand (NLA), 31 January 2001.

26 June 1996. NLA air photography (S4).
Photographs taken of preceptory earthworks.
S. Massey (NLA), 24 September 2001.

29 July 1996. NLA air photography (S5).
Earthworks visible.
H. Clare (NLA), 30 April 2001.

7 August 1996. NLA air photography (S6).
Earthworks of commandery clearly visible.
S. Massey (NLA), 8 November 2001.

29 January 1998. NLA air photography (S7).
Earthworks of preceptory visible.
Aerial photographs record the 1998 NAU excavation located to the immediate south and east of the school.
S. Massey (NLA), 1 November 2001.

9 September 2008.
Scheduled monument consent granted concerning the removal of trees, providing an all-weather covering to the ground service and upgrading the existing stock boundary.
See (S8) for further information
H. White (NLA) 7 January 2009

May 2011. Watching Brief.
Very few archaeological remains were encountered during excavation of 21 inspection pits and two shallow exploratory holes below slabs at St Peter and St Paul's CEVC School.
Masonry remains believed to be part of a flint wall, or the footings for a wall similar to those observed in the 1998 excavation (S2) were the most substantial remains encountered.
Other remains, to the west of the Scheduled area, were considered to be a modern sandpit.
See report (S10) for further details.
E. Ford (HES) 12 October 2012.

August-September 2012. Watching Brief.
Maintained during groundworks associated with construction of extension to Carbrooke School. The monitored works included the excavation of a trench to reroute an existing high voltage cable and the excavation of various other trenches for the foundations of the new building - all of which fell within the area excavated in 1998.
This work revealed no trace of the medieval building range recorded during the earlier work and it is suggested that this implies that no remains now survive at this location. However, it is clear from a comparison of the site plans than only an east-to-west aligned investigatory trench was dug within the area of the buildings themselves and that this probably missed the positions of the main walls. A single feature of uncertain date was recorded in this trench.
The excavation of ring-beam trenches to the north revealed a feature with a dark fill that was probably the large fish pond recorded during the 1998 excavation. No finds were recovered, suggesting the midden deposits recorded during the earlier work were relatively localised.
See report (S17) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S18).
P. Watkins (HES), 7 December 2022.

December 2022 and April 2023. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with construction of new classroom at Carbrooke Primary School.
The footing pads, service trenches and soakaway excavated revealed two post-medieval features crossing the site – a north-west to south-east aligned ditch and what was probably a north-east to south-west aligned ditch. The former contained a late medieval/post-medieval brick fragment, several pieces of post-medieval roof tile (including a machine-made pantile) and a number of medieval/post-medieval and post-medieval iron objects. Fragments of post-medieval brick and tile were recovered from the perpendicular probable ditch.
A probable natural feature was also recorded in one of the footing pads, which contained a prehistoric flint flake and a flint blade of probable Mesolithic or Early Neolithic date.
Unstratified finds recovered included several additional prehistoric flint flakes, a single sherd of post-medieval pottery, a medieval/post-medieval stud and a post-medieval button.
See report (S19) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2023.116).
P. Watkins (HES), 24 January 2024. Amended 24 August 2025.