Test Pit 24 - 29 Whitecroft Road

Once farmland owned by John Elbourn, several houses were built here in 1985. The excavation site was next to Whitecroft Road.


The Finds

The pottery from this test pit included a single sherd of Late Medieval Ware, three Glazed Red Earthenware sherds dating to the post-medieval period and 30 Victorian-era sherds.

Other finds from test pit 24 included glass, metal fragments, shell, charcoal, brick and other building rubble, slate and fragments of clay pipe. The faunal assemblage included a single bone of sheep/goat and some other unidentifiable remains. Test pit 24 also contained the only definitely retouched lithic from the Meldreth test pitting project, a secondary flake with bold, somewhat crude dorsal retouch that probably functioned as a cutting tool and most likely dates to the late prehistoric (Later Bronze Age to Iron Age) period.

This pit is the only one from the south-western part of the village to show no pottery evidence for occupation prior to the late medieval period. Indeed, the small number of pre-Victorian sherds suggests the area was only ever used as fields or gardens until the 19th century. The presence of a likely Later Bronze Age or Iron Age retouched flint flake does however expand the evidence for prehistoric settlement in this vicinity, and ties in nicely with the Bronze Age and Romano-British pottery recovered from nearby Test Pit 23. No evidence of the forge that once stood near this site 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 ourĀ results page.


Site Diary

Day One

We lifted flagstones to reveal a thin layer of sand, then soil. Further excavation gave builders’ rubble in clay and soil to context 3, then hopeful finds of nails, etc.

Day Two

Evidence of topsoil through context 3, then reverting to clay and rubble, although in smaller quantities. An oil-soaked tile gave hope of finding a workshop floor. There were increasing flecks of charcoal but then back to predominantly heavy clay mixed with soil.


Photo Gallery

Please click on a photograph to display a larger image.

Downloads

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