Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

Many prehistoric worked flints recovered by H. H. Halls and W. G. Clarke at an unknown site in Cranwich.

THE SITE AND ITS LOCATION

In 1914 H. H. Halls reported that between 1912 and 1914 he had recovered over 1260 worked flints at a site in Cranwich (S1). Unfortunately the location of this site (which he designated Site 16) is not entirely clear, being described by Halls simply as "…a small area of the parish..." (S1). It is however likely that this site lay somewhere on Cranwich Heath, with (S2) noting that it may have lain close to what is known as the Field Barn (TL 7714 9322). It possible that this is the site described by J. S. Warburton in (S3) as the "…part of the estate [in Cranwich] where the great majority of implements have been found". This location is noted as lying nearly two miles (3.2km) from the river, which would be consistent with a site somewhere in the vicinity of the Field Barn.

The flints recovered by Halls are summarised in (S1), although the terminology is somewhat archaic and the objects are divided primarily on the basis of their degree of patination, rather than form or possible date. See file for copies of photographs reproduced in this article (S4).

Halls was not the only collector to be working at this site during the early 20th century. According to (S2) and (S5) Halls' Site 16 is the same site as a location that W. G. Clarke designated his Site 28 (previously recorded as NHER 4955). In one of his published articles (S6) Clarke describes and illustrates objects found in Cranwich by both himself and H. H. Halls, confirming that the two were (at the very least) aware of each other's work. It is highly likely that the various references to "Cissbury" material from Cranwich refer to finds recovered by Halls and Clarke at this site (see for example (S18)).

It is also likely that at least some of the Cranwich finds described by J. S. Warburton in (S3) were from the same site as Clarke and Hall's finds. See NHER 4965 for details of Warburton's Cranwich finds; several of which appear to have been Mesolithic.

The Norwich Castle Museum holds a large number of artefacts from this site, including material donated by both Halls (NWHCM : 1924.83.16) and Clarke (NWHCM : 1926.32.28).

THE NORWICH CASTLE MUSEUM H. H. HALLS COLLECTION (NWHCM : 1924.83.16)

Although the bulk of the material from this site appears to be Neolithic, a number of earlier pieces were also recovered. In his article on the site (S1) Halls included a photograph of several objects that he considered to have Palaeolithic 'drift' affinities. The NCM collection includes a Palaeolithic handaxe, described by (S7) as a Group III handaxe. This is probably the object described by Haward (S1) as a "typical coup-de-poing". This handaxe is one of the two unprovenanced Cranwich handaxes listed in (S8). It is briefly described on (S20) and is one of the 8 Cranwich handaxes in the NCM that are described in (S9). These handaxes are also noted in (S10) and (S11). The handaxe found by Halls is almost certainly the reason that Cranwich is listed in (S19) as one of the locations that had produced "Palaeolithic drift" implements prior to 1919. The second unprovenanced Cranwich handaxe in the NCM was found by F. N. Haward and is recorded under NHER 4951.

In an early discussion of whether 'Mousterian' artefacts had been found in the county, W. G. Clarke (S6) also notes a grey flint side-scraper found at Cranwich and (at the time) in H. H. Halls' collection. This object was described as having "…striking analogies with the Northfleet type of implement with the bulb trimmed, and may therefore be of Mousterial date". It is unclear whether the dating of this object was correct.

This NCM collection also includes several Upper Palaeolithic flints, the most notable of which is a shouldered point, which Jacobi and Martingell felt was (at the time at least), the only certainly Upper Palaeolithic artefact from Norfolk (S12). They saw this as being the same object as the tanged Upper Palaeolithic flake or arrowhead from Cranwich described by Clarke in 1960 (S13). This corrects Wymer's assertion (S5) that Clarke was referring to a flint collected by Newnam. Wymer (S5) also described and figured a potentially Upper Palaeolithic backed blade in the NCM collection from this site (a photograph of which was included in (S1)); which he saw as further evidence for the presence of a Late Upper Palaeolithic site in the parish. It should however be noted that Jacobi and Martingell (S12) described the objects selected by Wymer as not "…immediately convincing…" as Upper Palaeolithic finds.

The NCM collection from this site also includes 3 Late Upper Palaeolithic two-opposed platform long blade cores. These objects are listed in (S14) and described in R. Jacobi's records, which also list an Upper Palaeolithic crested blade in this collection (S15). It should be noted that a blade core of a similar type has been identified within the material collected by F. N. Haward around the same time and probably from much the same area (see NHER 11232).

It also appears that the surviving material from this site includes at least a small number of Mesolithic flints. Wymer (S5) notes that the NCM collection include an unpatinated flint microlith and 3 unpatinated blades of probable Mesolithic date. These may be amongst the unprovenanced finds from Cranwich listed in (S16) as comprising 3 blades/flakes and 2 microliths. Jacobi's records (S15) do however indicate that the microliths at least are from other sites.

The Neolithic implements in this collection are listed by F. Healy in (S17) as comprising:
1 Early Neolithic leaf-shaped arrowhead and 4 laurel leaves.
4 Neolithic transverse petit tranchet derivative arrowheads, 7 oblique petit tranchet derivative arrowheads, 1 projectile head, 2 long-pointed awls, 29 long-pointed piercers, 5 flaked discoidal knives, 1 polished discoidal knife, 1 unfinished discoidal knife, 2 single-piece sickles, 1 fragmentary single-piece sickle, 5 waisted core tools, 1 polished chisel, 4 end-polished chisels, 4 flaked flint axes, 6 fragmentary flint axes, 1 part-polished flint axe, 3 fragmentary part-polished flint axes, 3 fragmentary polished flint adzes, 7 flaked flint adzes (two of them of the type reported from Durrington Wells and Arreton Down), 5 fragmentary flaked flint adzes and 1 Y-shaped tool.
4 Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age barbed and tanged arrowheads, 1 plano-convex knife and 1 dagger.

THE NCM W. G. CLARKE COLLECTION (NWHCM : 1926.32.28)

There is no record of any Early Prehistoric material in this collection, which is recorded by the NCM as comprising "Neolithic flint implements, including a laurel leaf, piercers, axe and cores". The Neolithic implements in this collection are listed by F. Healy in (S17) as comprising:
1 Early Neolithic laurel leaf.
2 Neolithic long-pointed piercers, 3 waisted core tools, 1 tranchet tool, 1 end-polished waisted flint axe and 1 Y-shaped tool.
These finds were previously recorded under NHER 4960.

The Thetford Museum also holds a number of W. G. Clarke's Cranwich flints. Those marked as being from his Site 28 include:
- 1 fabricator (THEHM : 1976.4).
- 5 "Cissbury-type" scrapers, 1 labelled Site 28 (THEHM : 1978.535).
- 2 horseshoe scrapers, 1 labelled Site 28 (THEHM : 1978.545).
- 1 ?arrowhead/projectile point (THEHM : 1979.133.2).

Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 1 May 2013.

Monument Types

• FINDSPOT (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 1000000 BC to 40001 BC)
• FINDSPOT (Upper Palaeolithic - 40000 BC to 10001 BC)
• FINDSPOT (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
• FINDSPOT (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)

Associated Finds

• HANDAXE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)
• SCRAPER (TOOL) (Lower Palaeolithic to Upper Palaeolithic - 500000 BC? to 10001 BC?)
• BACKED BLADE (Upper Palaeolithic - 40000 BC? to 10001 BC?)
• BLADE CORE (Upper Palaeolithic - 40000 BC to 10001 BC)
• CRESTED BLADE (Upper Palaeolithic - 40000 BC to 10001 BC)
• POINT (Upper Palaeolithic - 40000 BC to 10001 BC)
• BLADE (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
• MICROLITH (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
• ADZE (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• ARROWHEAD? (Neolithic - 4000 BC? to 2351 BC?)
• AWL (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• BORER (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• BORER (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• CHISEL (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• CORE (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• DISCOIDAL KNIFE (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• FABRICATOR (Neolithic - 4000 BC? to 2351 BC?)
• FLAKED AXEHEAD (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• LAUREL LEAF (Early Neolithic - 4000 BC to 3001 BC)
• LAUREL LEAF (Early Neolithic - 4000 BC to 3001 BC)
• LEAF ARROWHEAD (Early Neolithic - 4000 BC to 3001 BC)
• LITHIC IMPLEMENT (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• LITHIC IMPLEMENT (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• POLISHED AXEHEAD (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• POLISHED AXEHEAD (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• POLISHED KNIFE (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• PROJECTILE (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• SCRAPER (TOOL) (Neolithic - 4000 BC? to 2351 BC?)
• SICKLE (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• SIDE AND END SCRAPER (Neolithic - 4000 BC? to 2351 BC?)
• TRANSVERSE ARROWHEAD (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

Related records - none

Find out more...

• Parish Summary: Cranwich (Parish Summary)
• Upper Palaeolithic Norfolk (Period Overview)