SEX73973 - Newport Free Grammar School (Joyce Frankland)

Evaluation features were limited to field boundaries associated with past agricultural use of the site. One of the ditches, which had a ceramic and drain at its base, corresponded with a field boundary shown on the 1842 Tithe map f the area, a boundary that was still extant until the late 19th century. A parallel ditch in the northern part of the site and a ditch leading off this at right angles probably form part of the same post-medieval ditch system, as indicated by the small quantity of tile recovered from the fill of one of the ditches. Noting the field pattern on the 1842 Tithe map, it is probable that a number of smaller, rectangular fields were amalgamated prior to 1842 to form the large field numbered '250' on the Tithe apportionment. Other than a small, shallow ditch in the north-western part of the site, from which was recovered a fragment of post-medieval tile, the only other features and deposits encountered by the evaluation were associated with modern development and activity within the academy grounds