Watching Brief at Ormesby Hall, Multi Use Trail

The Watching Brief comprised the monitoring of groundworks at three locations where deeper excavation had the potential to impact upon archaeological deposits. The excavations were undertaken under archaeological supervision. The archaeologist was then given the opportunity to inspect the sides and surfaces of the trench in order to assess for any potential archaeology. Trench 1 comprised the excavation for a new length of trail, located within a pasture field to the south of the hall (location labelled as i on Figure 2). It was a total of c. 70m in length, 2.40m wide and was between 0.15m and 0.25m deep (Plate 1), with the deepest part being towards the western end to allow for the track to include a suitable shallow gradient. Trenches 2, 3, 4 and 5 comprised a series of small trenches located across the existing access road to construct safe crossing points on the stretch of trail located between the hall gardens and the churchyard (labelled as m on Figure 2). These excavations were a maximum of 0.20m deep. Trench 6 comprised excavations to allow the construction of safe crossings in the northwestern part of the site, to the south of West Lodges (labelled as e on Figure 2). The excavations at this location were divided into two discrete trenches, one to the west of the existing track (Trench 6A), which was a maximum of 10m long, 0.60m wide and 0.40m deep, and the other to the east (Trench 6B), which was a maximum of 8m long, 2m wide and 0.35m deep (Plate 2). Standard On-Site Archaeology techniques were followed throughout the investigation, and a photographic record was also maintained. A full catalogue of context descriptions is provided in Appendix 1. In two of the three areas monitored all excavated deposits are likely to date to the 20th century and be associated with pre-existing tarmac track and landscaping associated with the construction of an adjacent road. In the final area monitored the remains of an earlier track was observed beneath the existing tarmac access road. This may represent the remains of a track between the 18th century West Lodges and Grange Farm.