Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

October-November 2005. Strip Map and Sample Excavation.
Excavation undertaken prior to construction of Stoke Ferry to Downham Market water pipeline. The work was undertaken in two stages, with the main phase of excavation completed following the initial stripping of the easement. In areas where deep subsoil deposits survived a second phase of work was undertaken during the excavation of the pipe trench itself.
Evidence for prehistoric activity was recovered, including Mesolithic or early Neolithic flint blades, a Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age pit and two gold Iron Age coins.
A large number of Roman finds were recovered from the northern part of the site, providing clear evidence that a settlement of some sort, perhaps a villa, once lay nearby. A number of excavated features including a trackway, pits and several ditches were potentially of Roman date. These features produced a diverse range of artefacts including pottery, tiles, coins and brooches. Other Roman finds were recovered from unstratified contexts and included a vessel fragment and tweezers.
Early Saxon material was recovered from several areas, particularly within the same areas that much of the Roman material was recovered from. In Area 1 to the south a sub-square pit with two small postholes was revealed, and may be the remains of an Early Saxon sunken featured building.
A number of Late Saxon and medieval features were excavated, including ditches, pits and a possible building.
Eight articulated human skeletons were recovered along with the disarticulated remains of several other individuals. While these were recovered close to the present-day church of St Mary's (NHER 2468), the excavator thinks they may have been of Late Saxon date as some grave fills contained Late Saxon pottery and part of the cemetery was truncated by features containing only Late Saxon dating evidence. These are probably part of a previously recorded burial ground, NHER 2434, which was thought to date from the medieval period. A cluster of features close to the burials consisted of a deep pit surrounded by a number of post holes which were interpreted as the possible remains of an early medieval sunken featured building. A large number of ditches also recorded in this part of the site appear to form a series of enclosures or field boundaries (as suggested by the cropmarks recorded under NHER 35584). Although the dating evidence recovered from these features was minimal, many were considered to be of Late Saxon or early medieval date.
Several medieval extractive pits, a post medieval ditch and a post medieval brick surface were also identified in Area B. Some finds were recovered from these features. They were almost certainly excavated to extract the good quality sand present in this area.
See assessment report (S1) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S2).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.113).
A. Cattermole (NLA), 3 October 2007. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 18 May 2019.

Monument Types

• METAL WORKING SITE? (Unknown date)
• FINDSPOT (Early Mesolithic to Early Neolithic - 10000 BC to 3001 BC)
• FINDSPOT (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC to 1501 BC)
• FINDSPOT (Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age - 1000 BC to 401 BC)
• PIT (Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age - 1000 BC to 401 BC)
• FINDSPOT (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• DITCH (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• FINDSPOT (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• FINDSPOT (Roman to Early Saxon - 43 AD to 650 AD)
• GULLY (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• PIT (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• TRACKWAY (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• FINDSPOT (Early Saxon - 410 AD to 650 AD)
• GRUBENHAUS? (Early Saxon - 410 AD to 650 AD)
• PIT (Early Saxon - 410 AD to 650 AD)
• POST HOLE (Early Saxon - 410 AD to 650 AD)
• FINDSPOT (Middle Saxon - 651 AD to 850 AD)
• BOUNDARY DITCH (Late Saxon to Medieval - 851 AD? to 1539 AD?)
• BUILDING? (Late Saxon - 851 AD to 1065 AD)
• DITCH (Late Saxon - 851 AD to 1065 AD)
• DITCH (Late Saxon to Medieval - 851 AD? to 1539 AD?)
• ENCLOSURE (Late Saxon to Medieval - 851 AD? to 1539 AD?)
• FIELD BOUNDARY (Late Saxon to Medieval - 851 AD? to 1539 AD?)
• FINDSPOT (Late Saxon - 851 AD to 1065 AD)
• FINDSPOT (Late Saxon to Medieval - 851 AD to 1539 AD)
• GRAVE (Late Saxon to Medieval - 851 AD to 1539 AD)
• INHUMATION (Late Saxon to Medieval - 851 AD to 1539 AD)
• INHUMATION CEMETERY (Late Saxon to Medieval - 851 AD to 1539 AD)
• PIT (Late Saxon - 851 AD to 1065 AD)
• BUILDING? (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• EXTRACTIVE PIT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FINDSPOT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FINDSPOT (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• PIT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• POST HOLE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• DITCH (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• FINDSPOT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Finds

• ANIMAL REMAINS (Unknown date)
• METAL WORKING DEBRIS (Unknown date)
• QUERN (Unknown date)
• SLAG (Unknown date)
• BLADE (Early Mesolithic to Early Neolithic - 10000 BC to 3001 BC)
• POT (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC to 1501 BC)
• POT (Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age - 1000 BC to 401 BC)
• COIN (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• POT (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• ANIMAL REMAINS (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• BROOCH (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• COIN (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• DRESS PIN (Roman to Early Saxon - 43 AD to 650 AD)
• FLUE TILE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• IMBREX (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• KNIFE (Roman to Early Saxon - 43 AD to 650 AD)
• LOOMWEIGHT (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• POT (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• QUERN (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• TEGULA (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• TILE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• TWEEZERS (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• COIN (Saxon - 410 AD to 1065 AD)
• ANIMAL REMAINS (Early Saxon - 411 AD to 650 AD)
• BROOCH (Early Saxon - 411 AD to 650 AD)
• POT (Early Saxon - 411 AD to 650 AD)
• PIN (Middle Saxon - 651 AD to 850 AD)
• POT (Middle Saxon - 651 AD to 850 AD)
• EAR RING? (Late Saxon - 851 AD to 1065 AD)
• FINGER RING? (Late Saxon - 851 AD to 1065 AD)
• HUMAN REMAINS (Late Saxon to Medieval - 851 AD to 1539 AD)
• POT (Late Saxon - 851 AD to 1065 AD)
• RING (Late Saxon - 851 AD to 1065 AD)
• BUCKLE (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• COIN (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• COIN (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• DRESS FASTENER (DRESS) (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• POT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• SCABBARD (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• STRAP FITTING (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• BRICK (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• BUTTON (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• HARNESS MOUNT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• JETTON (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• LACE TAG (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• PIN (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• POT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• STRAP FITTING (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

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