Land Off Crown Street, Methwold, Norfolk. Informative Trenching as Part of a Programme of Archaeological Mitigation Work

Twelve trenches were excavated as part of the evaluation, randomly distributed to achieve maximum coverage of the area. Recorded features comprised ditches, pits, gullies, post-holes, a possible trackway and a stone wall. Dating of pottery sherds recovered from some of the features indicates Early, Middle and Late Saxon activity on the site. Six sherds of residual Early Saxon (5th - 7th century AD) pottery were recovered but no features were dated to the period. The remains of an in-situ oven was identified within the fills of a ditch dated to the Middle Saxon period (7th - 9th century). Other Middle Saxon features were represented by a large pit and possibly a post-hole, although the dating of the latter feature rests on just one pot sherd. Late Saxon activity (9th - 11th century AD) was represented by four linear ditches and two parallel gullies which may have run either side of a trackway. Most of the recorded features were linear ditches and gullies representing land division through the Middle and Late Saxon periods. Dated discrete features were limited to a single post-hole, a single pit and an oven. However, it is likely that the bulk of the undated features date to sometime within the Anglo-Saxon period. The absence of evidence for medieval or post-medieval activity is surprising considering the location of the site close to the village core. A narrow wall footing was recorded close to the Crown Street frontage. The footing is of uncertain date although it was stratigraphically above an undated but probable Late Saxon ditch. The wall is likely to have served as a land boundary rather than as a structural element within a building and it suspected that it is of post-medieval date. Eleven of the twelve evaluation trenches contained features of archaeological interest. These features comprised ditches, pits, gullies, post-holes, a possible trackway and a stone wall. Dating of pottery sherds recovered from some of the features indicates Early, Middle and Late Saxon activity on the site. No artefacts dating to earlier or later than the Saxon period were recovered. Six sherds of residual Early Saxon (5th - 7th century AD) pottery were recovered but no features were dated to the period. However, some of the numerous undated features could have been Early Saxon. The remains of an in-situ oven was identified within the fills of a ditch dated to the Middle Saxon period (7th - 9th century). Other Middle Saxon features were represented by a large pit and possibly a post-hole, although the dating of the latter feature rests on just one pot sherd. Late Saxon activity (9th - 11th century AD) was represented by four linear ditches and two parallel gullies which may have run either side of a trackway. Most of the recorded features were linear ditches and gullies representing land division through the Middle and Late Saxon periods. Dated discrete features were limited to a single post-hole, a single pit and an oven. However, it is likely that the bulk of the undated features date to sometime within the Anglo-Saxon period. It is notable that no artefacts pre- dating or post-dating the Anglo-Saxon period were recovered from the site. The absence of evidence for medieval or post-medieval activity is surprising considering the location of the site close to the village core. A narrow wall footing was recorded close to the Crown Street frontage. The footing is of uncertain date although it was stratigraphically above an undated but probable Late Saxon ditch. The wall is likely to have served as a land boundary rather than as a structural element within a building and it suspected that it is of post-medieval date. In general, the recorded features survive in a reasonable state of preservation. Bone preservation is good and environmental sampling showed that plant macrofossils occur in low to moderate quantities.