Medieval pottery and post-medieval boundary ditches, Activity Area 3, land at Lower Farm (EHER 80981)

Trial trenching recorded five post-medieval ditches in Trenches 265 and 266. A small assemblage of medieval pottery was collected as surface finds from an unexcavated E-W aligned possible ditch. One of the ditches is depicted on First Edition OS mapping, and the remaining features yielded a notable quantity of post-medieval ceramic building material.

July 2023. Trial trenching. Activity Area 3 contained evidence for medieval activity and post-medieval boundaries; five ditches were revealed in Trenches 265 and 266, with some correlation between the group. A small assemblage of medieval pottery was collected as surface finds from an unexcavated E-W aligned possible ditch. A notable quantity of post-medieval ceramic building material (CBM) and pottery was encountered within the remaining features in this area. Pottery and CBM appears to have been incorporated within the deliberate backfill of field boundary. This ditch is depicted on the First Edition Ordnance Survey mapping although it is shown on a NW-SE orientation; it was 2.60m wide and 0.37m deep. A ditch identified in both trenches, aligned NW-SE, also contained similar CBM, as well as a mortar fragment. To the West of ditch, a partially exposed deposit contained CBM, pottery, oyster shell and animal bone. The concentration of CBM might indicate that a post-medieval structure was located close to the trenches and, when demolished, material from its construction was used to backfill surrounding ditches, or that the CBM had become spread/incorporated into redundant boundaries during landscape reorganisation. Alternatively, the material could have been brought in from Grovehall Farm (now Lower Farm), situated 200m West of these trenches, or even from elsewhere, as part of a deliberate programme of boundary infilling. <1>