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Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Record Details

NHER Number:	14416
Type of record:	Find Spot
Name:	Palaeolithic flint handaxe

Summary

In 1864 a Palaeolithic flint handaxe was found at this location. It was recovered from a gravel deposit that had been exposed in the ditch that marked the boundary between South Wootton and Gaywood parishes (the latter now part of King's Lynn). This is probably the same handaxe as one now held by the Norwich Castle Museum

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:	TF 6421 2236
Map Sheet:	TF62SW
Parish:	KING’S LYNN, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK
	SOUTH WOOTTON, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

1864. Stray Find.
Palaeolithic handaxe found by W. H. Houghton. This discovery was reported by Rev. J. Gunn in a paper read at a meeting of the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society in 1864. See contemporary press report (S1). The findspot can be precisely located, being described as "…a ditch, adjoining the South Wootton School Room [now gone, but marked on the 1st Edition O.S map], and dividing that parish from Gaywood [now part of King's Lynn parish]". The ditch had been dug about 3' into the "high gravel" and it was from this deposit that the handaxe was recovered. When reported in (S2) this discovery was described as the "First flint implement of the Hoxne and Amiens type found in Norfolk". This find was noted by also noted by Evans (S3), who described the object as a "…tongue-shaped specimen, 5.25 inches [13.3cm] long, in form much like that from Shrub Hill…stained all over of an ochreous colour, and [showing] signs of use near the point, a part of which has been broken off..." (the date of discovery is incorrectly given as 1884). A variety of subsequent sources make reference to this handaxe, including (S4), (S5) and (S6). This object is also the reason that South Wootton was listed in (S14) as one of the locations that had produced Palaeolithic material prior to 1907. This handaxe is also listed in (S7) (being one of two unprovenanced handaxes listed for King's Lynn), although Roe only makes reference to (S3).

In (S15) J. E. Marr records having visited a location in South Wootton that (from how it is noted on (S9) at least) appears to have been this site. No section was visible. The gravel was estimated to be at c. 30' [9m] O.D.

A note on (S8) suggests that this handaxe is one that was given to the Norwich Castle Museum by H. L. Bradfer-Lawrence in the 1950s (NWHCM : 1951.206.8), having previously been in the C. B. Plowright collection. The handaxe in the NCM is described by Wymer on (S9) and in (S10) as a pointed handaxe (Wymer Type F b/i), 15cm long, slightly rolled and with lustrous staining. It should however be noted that this object is listed in the museum records as coming from another nearby site (NHER 3289) and Wymer also notes the discrepancy been the length of the piece in the museum and that originally measured by Evans. The museum records do though indicate that this object was found in the 1860s and a reference is given to an earlier description by Evans of Houghton's handaxe (S11). In summary, it is clear that a handaxe was indeed found at this spot and at present it seems reasonably certain that this is the object in the NCM examined by Wymer.

This handaxe is also noted listed in (S12) and (S13), although little additional information is given.

Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 27 November 2013.

Monument Types

FINDSPOT (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 1000000 BC to 40001 BC)

Associated Finds

HANDAXE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

---	Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
---	Secondary File: Secondary File.
<S1>	Newspaper Article: Norwich Mercury. 1865. [Article on Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society report summary]. 9 April.
<S2>	Article in Serial: 1865. Ipswich Congress, 1864. Catalogue of the Temporary Museum. Journal of the British Archaeological Association. First Series Vol XXI pp 343-349. p 346.
<S3>	Publication: Evans, J. 1897. The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain. 2nd Edition. p 572.
<S4>	Serial: 1882. Proceedings of the Norwich Geological Society. p 164.
<S5>	Publication: Dutt, W. A. 1904. The King's Homeland: Sandringham and Northwest Norfolk.
<S6>	Publication: Bradfer-Lawrence, H. L. 1932. Castle Rising. p 3.
<S7>	Monograph: Roe, D. A. 1968. A Gazetteer of British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Sites. CBA Research Report. No 8. p 239.
<S8>	Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Palaeolithic.
<S9>	Record Card: Wymer, J. J. Wymer Index Card - Palaeolithic. South Wootton.
<S10>	Publication: Wymer, J. J. 1985. Palaeolithic Sites of East Anglia. p 14.
<S11>	Publication: Evans, J. 1872. The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain. 1st Edition. p 516.
<S12>	Unpublished Contractor Report: 1996. The English Rivers Palaeolithic Project. Regions 9 (Great Ouse) and 12 (Yorkshire and the Lincolnshire Wolds). Wessex Archaeology. N&W-2, No. 18.
<S13>	Website: TERPS online database. Site 23078.
<S14>	Article in Serial: Clarke, W. G. 1907. The Distribution of Flint and Bronze Implements in Norfolk. Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society. Vol VIII Pt III (for 1906-1907) pp 393-409. p 396.
<S15>	Article in Serial: Marr, J. E. 1926. The Pleistocene deposits of Lower Part of the Great Ouse Basin. With appendix by A. S. Kennard and B. B. Woodward on the non-marine mollusca. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. Vol 82 pp 101-143. p 120.