Possible site of medieval occupation at Wicken Lodge (EHER 6742)

A 1998 watching brief for new house in the former walled garden of Wicken House revealed possible evidence of medieval occupation.

January 1986. Watching brief. Observation of works for new house in the former walled garden of Wicken House. A scorched brickearth or clay layer and a trampled chalk layer were noted in builders' foundation trenches, 2 x 13m, possibly representing a medieval house site. Pits were seen in the northern part of the site, cut into the natural, but no finds were made apart from a few bones. This part of Wicken Bonhunt is thought to be the site of a deserted or shrunken medieval village with finds of pottery dating from the 11th century and later. The pits are consistent with settlement in the area. The brickearth or clay, and the chalk layer, could have been associated with a building but no wall alignments were discerned. They could be earlier than the former walled garden in which they were found (although they are orientated almost at right angles to the west wall of the latter). If a house had been in this area it should have been nearer the road but no foundation trenches were dug there. Gardening may also have removed settlement evidence, it cannot therefore be excluded that there had once been a tenement on the site. <1>