Davies, G. 2008. An Archaeological evaluation of the middle-late Anglo-Saxon settlement at Chalkpit Field, Sedgeford, Northwest Norfolk (original) (raw)
Related papers
Excavation of an Iron Age Settlement and a Middle Saxon Cemetery at Great Houghton, Northampton
Northamptonshire Archaeology, 2001
A corridor 400m long by 15m wide along the course of a proposed Anglian Water pipeline was stripped under archaeological supervision to determine the presence and character of any archaeological remains. The dense palimpsest of features located was sampled in an archaeological recording action. The majority of the features related to an extensive area of Iron Age settlement. The earliest activity probably comprised unenclosed post hole and pit groups. A sub-rectangular ditched enclosure contained numerous pits, and in one an adult inhumation burial with a lead alloy neck .ring or torc around its neck has been radiocarbon dated to the early 4th century BC. To the east, a roundhouse ring ditch lay outside a small oval enclosure. Settlement began at the end of the early Iron Age, at around 400BC, and continued through the middle Iron Age. It was abandoned in the early 1st century AD. A group of23 inhu,nation burials, all aligned westto- east, and without grave goods, formed the southern part of a cemetery of unknown extent. A single radiocarbon date indicates that it was a Christian cemetery dating to the second half of the 7th century. The burials produced much evidence for healed traumatic injuries, and a high incidence of anatomical variants may indicate that they were from a small, inbred community. One individual shared an uncommon genetic trait with the Iron Age pit burial. At the western end of the area a group of rectangular clay pits of medieval date were aligned on the ridge and furrow of the medieval field system.
A lovely Bronze Age burial and settlement site in West Sussex, with interesting evidence for Neolithic and Anglo-Saxon inhabitation too. I directed the evaluation and one phase of excavation for Wessex Archaeology, and subsequently wrote it up. It was particularly interesting how the stake-built palisade did not surround the settlement, but seemed to partly screen it from the barrows, though the entrance through this fence faced directly towards them. There was originally more in-depth discussion of the depositional practices and spatial patterning by myself and Lorraine Mepham, but unfortunately this was edited out of the final publication....
2007
An excavation and archaeological watching brief were carried out by Wessex Archaeology, in 1998, at the site of a former animal feed mill on the south side of Church Road, Bishop's Cleeve, Gloucestershire (OS Nat. Grid 395855 227560) in advance of the construction of a retail outlet for Tesco (Wessex Archaeology 1999). Additional archaeological excavations and a watching brief were undertaken in 2004, in advance of extensions to the Tesco store and car park (Wessex Archaeology 2005). The results of both these periods of work are presented here. Previous work at Bishop's Cleeve indicates a long history of settlement in the area, from at least the Middle Iron Age, though the information to date is rather piecemeal. Middle to Late Iron-Age enclosure ditches and pits were revealed in an earlier evaluation of the site (Parry 1993). These probably form part of the settlement, also represented by enclosure ditches and pits, excavated on the north side of Church Road at Gilder's Paddock (Parry 1999) as well as 21, Church Road (Cullen and Hancocks forthcoming) (Fig. 1). Romano-British pottery of 1st-2nd-century AD date was found to the northwest of the site prior to and during construction of the Bishop's Cleeve bypass road; first in a number of pits at Gilder's Brook (Wills and Parry 1990) and secondly, associated with a surface of paving slabs, during fieldwalking at Dean Farm (Rawes and Rawes 1990) (Fig. 1). At Gilder's Paddock, Romano-British activity of 2nd-4th-century AD date is represented by a ditch, which follows the line of one of the Iron-Age enclosure ditches, and seven inhumation burials. These features probably relate to the late 2nd-4th-century AD occupation at Home Farm, immediately to the west (Hart 1993; King 1994; Barber and Walker 1995; 1998) (Fig. 1). This consisted of a series of small ditched enclosures, possibly garden plots, the remains of a masonry building, and traces of small-scale industrial activity, including smithing, brass casting and flax retting or leather tanning. Ditches and pits spanning the 2nd-4th-centuries were also revealed during an evaluation at Cleeve Hall (Fig. 1) (Ings and Enright 1996; CAT 1997; Enright and Watts 2002). Evidence for Anglo-Saxon settlement at Bishop's Cleeve has so far proved elusive though it probably lies beneath the modern village (Aldred 1976). A late 6th-century cemetery at Lower Farm (Wilson and Hurst 1970; Holbrook 2000) was seen by Heighway (1984) as an indication of the colonisation of the upper Thames valley by pre-Christian Saxons. The site of a possible
Excavation of a pre-Conquest Cemetery at Addingham, West Yorkshire
Medieval Archaeology, 1996
EXCAVATIONS at Addingkam in Whaifed11k uncovered part of a cemetery which, on the tlJidmce ofradwcarbon ana{ysis, can be daud to the 8th to 10th centuries A.D. At that ptriod Addingham was an estAle oflht archbishops oIYor!, and it was to here tluJtArchbishop Wuiflure jied in 867 to escape the Da11lS. A wlQl i.if55 grlllN!S were investigated, yielding the rtmains of perhaps 80 indWiduals. OfJhese, about 40 wert undisturbed primary inlmnents; the rut had hun reburUd in whole or part, !Laving some graDeS empty and olhus containing several individuals. lAter flatuns in.clutkd a ditdl and a drying kiln whit:h belonged to a post-Conquest manorial complex. Further delaiis on the 16yout and com/xmenls ofthe seukmmt Juwe bun gkanedflom earthwork survey, gtojJhysical prospection and documentary research, as well as from earlier excavations which until now remained unpuhlishLd. ADDINGHAl\I 155 Addingham written by Henry johnston, brother of the antiquarian Nathaniel johnston, who visited the place in july 166g. He recorded that 'the maner house stood neer the church, upon Wharfe Brow, and the land being warne away by the River, the Hall fell, so that there is nothing now remaining ofit'.l9 The old 'parsonage house', which formerly adjoined the W. end of the present rectory barn, seems also to have suffered from erosion of the river bank; it is sketched (with prominent cracks in its walling) on a plan of 1808 showing its proposed replacement on a site to the SE.20 Johnston's observations in the church and churchyard are also ofinrerest. In both places were 'severall stones with crosses upon them, but wore of, though they be on very hard stone'. He noted and illustrated the Norman chevron-decorated voussoirs, then built into the church porch, and finally, he described and sketched two stones in the churchyard, 'placed about 2 yards asonder. one of them to the eastard, a flat stone and rough. and the other allmost halfe round with a hole in the midst ... a quater of a yard deepe'.2l The socket stone, probably a cross base, remains in situ; it has one well-dressed flat face with spirals carved in it, possibly the result of re-use. The socket itself is very worn and rounded, as if used for a water trough, but in its unworn state it would have been an appropriate size to house the extant cross shaft. It was investigated in Ig74 by Mrs May Pickles, and was found to be set o.6lm into the ground; some sherds of Igth-century pottery were recovered from close to the base of the stone, but these must be the result of soil disturbance, in view of johnston's testimony. The other stone described by Johnston, the flat stone c. 2.8m to the E., measuring 1.16m by o.95ill by o.15m 'with some signs of rough dressing' was removed before I974;22 its present location is unknown. Finally, there are some valuable records relating to the westward extension of the churchyard in the Igth century. The plan for the purchase of part of Church Orchard shows the pre-existing W. wall of the burial ground. 23 The wall ran approximately on the course of the earthwork bank (Fig. 2). Allowing for probable riverbank erosion on the N. side of the church, and for the conversion of a curvilinear bank to a largely polygonal wall line, the pre-1869 burial ground was oval in shape. Churchyards of this shape have been considered to be candidates for early ecclesiastical sites. It is, therefore, even more interesting to read a report that many human bones were discovered when the churchyard was extended in 1869: that is, the remains were, presumably, discovered outside the western end of the oval churchyard. 24 Such a report might seem questionable were it not for the discovery, in Ig8g, of pre-Conquest burials even further to the W. A former sexton has reported finding skeletons aligned N.-S. rather than E.-W., though whether these were within the oval or in the extension remains unknown. 2 !' > THE 1971-75 EXCAVATIONS: A SUMMARY REPORT By STUART WRATHl\IELL The gravel ridge occupied by the medieval manor, church and parsonage house ends in a steep slope c. 35m E. of the present Rectory (Fig. 2; PI. V,A). In '9'
THE Excavation of Late Anglo-Saxon Settlement at Market Field, Steyning, 1988-89
Excavations in advance of a housing development revealed a 10th-century enclosure, two buildings and associated pits. A sequence of ditches marked the boundary of the enclosure and an entrance way was indicated by two post-settings and a central stake-hole. The entrance is similar to those from other Late Anglo-Saxon sites. One of the buildings was constructed with planks set on end, the other with squared timbers and a central line of round posts. Three types of pits were identified and these seem to have sewed as wells, and for the disposal of rubbish and cess. Sealed groups of pottery were recovered from the pits suggesting that some activity on the site may date from the 9th century, though the main period of activity was in the following century. A notable find was an inscribed gold ring bearing the name of the owner discovered in a rubbish pit.
Recent archaeological investigations at Polegate, East Sussex
Sussex Archaeological Collections, 2021
This report provides the results of archaeological investigations carried out between 2009 and 2012 on three separate sites to the north of Dittons Road, Polegate, East Sussex. The earliest encountered material consisted of a background scatter of flintwork, implying hunter/gatherer activity in the mesolithic and early neolithic periods. A range of archaeological features and finds provide evidence for extensive Late Iron Age/early Romano-British activity, including a ditched enclosure with associated field systems and droveways. There were limited indications that salt working was being undertaken at the site, or nearby, as well as crop processing and smithing. There was evidence of reoccupation during the early medieval period, represented by a scatter of charcoal-rich pits, or hearths, radiocarbon dated to the 7th-9th centuries. A periodically realigned field system, in use from the Saxo-Norman period to the late 13th century, was also recorded. Evidence of post-medieval activity was scarce and limited to the deposition of domestic rubbish, either deliberately in the vicinity of the houses fronting onto Dittons Road or accidentally during manuring. Two burials of domestic animals, of late postmedieval date, were encountered relatively close to the street frontage.