Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age ditch and pits, land north of Hospital Approach (EHER 80608)

Trial trenching in 2017 revealed some traces of later prehistoric activity. This comprised a series of pits, possibly for extraction, and a ditch.

2017. Trial trenching. A low level of prehistoric activity was identified. This comprised a series of pits, possibly for extraction, and a ditch. A cluster of intercutting pits was identified towards comprising a minimum of five pits, varying between 0.44m and 0.7m in depth. The full extent and form of the individual pits within the group were not identified in the trench. One pit was later than the others and had a different fill sequence from the earlier features. The fill contained charcoal-ritch silt clay followed by an isolated deposit of bright orangey-red silty clay with gravel. The burnt material was deposited when hot enough to scorch the side of the pit. Thirty-three sherds of late Bronze Age to early Iron Age pottery, probably more closely dateable to the very early Iron Age, was recovered from three of the four fills in the pit. A shallow ditch was aligned north-west to south-east, and measured 1.5m wide and 0.32m deep. It was truncated by a ditch which may have continued to the south as ditch. Both ditches were undated and are tentatively ascribed a prehistoric date on the basis of the two pit groups being contemporary, and this ditch pre-dating the pit. <1>