Land off School Close, Knapton, Norfolk. An Archaeological Assessment and Updated Project Design

Between the 6th of February and 8th of March 2019, Archaeological Solutions Ltd conducted an archaeological excavation on land off School Close, Knapton, Norfolk (NGR TG 3043 3407; Figs. 1 - 2). The excavation was preceded by an archaeological trial trench evaluation (Cuthbert 2018), conducted by Suffolk Archaeology (dated July 2018). The site lies within an area of archaeological and historical interest, and has the potential to reveal evidence of a range of periods. The church of St. Peter and St. Paul (NHER 6912), is located c.280m east-northeast of the site; the church was built in the 14th century. There are a large number of medieval artefacts that have been recovered during metal detector surveys in the surrounding area NHER 60329, 20181, 49875 and 50234. Based on the archaeological evidence revealed during the excavation, and in concurrence with the preceding trial trench evaluation, two phases of archaeological activity were identified. Datable evidence from the site was relatively limited, of those features which contained diagnostic material the majority were dated to the Saxo-Norman to high medieval period (Phase 1; 11th to 14th centuries AD), where the recovered pottery assemblage appears to indicate a relatively broad phase of settlement activity. The Saxo-Norman/medieval activity consisted of a series of small enclosures in addition to numerous post-built structures and pits. Of particular significance was Feature Cluster 1, an expansive concentration of post holes, stake holes, pits and associated gullies or beam slots. In addition to Saxo-Norman to high medieval activity, two features in the north-western section of the site contained an assemblage of pottery dated to the late medieval/post-medieval period (Phase 2; 16th to 18th century).