Test Pit 23 - 11 Whitecroft Road

This pit was dug on the site of Hope Folly, a building with an interesting and chequered history.


The Finds

This test pit produced a wide range of pottery and, in fact, was the only pit to produce pottery from all of the periods represented by the finds from the 32 pits dug this year.  The pottery included 11 Bronze Age sherds, five Romano-British sherds, a single sherd of St Neots Ware dating to the late Saxon period, a few sherds of Hedingham Ware and Hertfordshire Greyware dating to the 12th -14th centuries, Late Medieval Ware, Midland Blackware dating to the post-medieval period and seven Victorian-era sherds.

Other finds included glass, nails and other metal scraps, charcoal, stone, fragments of clay pipe, brick and tile. The faunal assemblage included thee unidentifiable bones of mixed size.

This pit contained good evidence for Bronze Age residential occupation, contributing towards a widespread scattering of Bronze Age sherds across many areas of the modern-day village. The five Roman-era sherds also suggest activity during the 1st -5th centuries AD, and collectively with the Roman sherds from other test pits they suggest the likely presence of one or more farms or homesteads surrounded by fields at this time. The very small numbers of pottery sherds found after the Roman period suggest the area continued to be used as fields, but there is no evidence that the area immediately adjacent to the pit was ever occupied. No evidence of the industrial activities that have taken place in the vicinity of this location was found.

For an overview of the site and finds, please click on the image of the exhibition poster which is the first image in the gallery below.

For detailed analysis of the finds, please see the results sheet for this pit, which is available as a download at the bottom of this page.

For reports and maps relating to all of the test pits, please see the documents available on our results page.


Site Diary

Day One

Numerous finds in first four contexts: some confirmed as medieval. Slow progress, but nonetheless an enjoyable day.

Day Two

A reasonably early start to play “catch-up” on the previous day. We were joined by John, Hilary and Holly.  The team were a bit deflated by not finding many finds and by arriving at natural before the tenth context, but on reflection felt that we had done quite well. “Quality rather than quantity,” to quote Cat [the archaeologist]. All in all, a congenial and very enjoyable weekend.


Photo Gallery

Please click on a photograph to display a larger image.

Downloads

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