| Abstract: |
The fieldwork was designed to investigate the origin, duration of occupation, evidence for re-planning, and date of abandonment of the village, and was carried out in November 2019 following evaluation work, encompassing geophysical survey and aerial photography, which contributed towards determining the location of the excavation trenches.
Archaeological excavation was carried out by opening trenches within three of the seven sites chosen on the basis of geophysical survey and permitted by Historic England, the work being undertaken by local volunteers working under the direction of the Archaeological Practice Ltd. The main focus was a trench in the north row (Trench 1; WSI TRENCH 5), directly adjacent to the green, to investigate what appeared to be a typical house platform located at the front of a toft. An L-shaped trench (2; WSI TRENCH 1) was also excavated towards the east end of the North Row, just south of the west row of the adjoining linear extension. It intersected the apparent south and west walls of a sub-rectangular enclosure which clearly survived as a visible earthwork but was not represented by any geomagnetic responses. The trench was designed to investigate whether the two-row linear settlement originally continued further south into the area occupied by the quadrangular green settlement and predated the latter. A third trench (3; WSI TRENCH 3) was excavated further north on the west side of the linear extension to explore this part of the settlement.
All trenches were excavated to a depth sufficient to establish either the presence of natural sub-soil or the presence of any archaeological remains. Overburden on the site was removed by hand, or by mechanical excavator supervised by archaeological staff in cases where surface features were not prominent. Hand excavation, including cleaning of the trench faces to reveal changes in context and potential features, was carried out prior to recording by volunteers under the close supervision of suitably qualified and experienced staff from the Archaeological Practice Ltd. The excavation of three trenches – one being a large open area and the others, more modest slot-trenches - revealed substantial remains of medieval settlement and light industrial practices in one of the three areas examined, the other two producing relatively few structural or other remains of note.
The main trench (TRENCH 1) revealed that what had initially been interpreted as a single longhouse, based on the visible earthworks, in fact represented two separate rectangular structures belonging to different phases, as denoted by the differing alignments of their walls. The western half of the plot appeared to contain a single building or structure (Building 1) defined by east-west orientated north and south walls, plus a possible west wall, only one stub of which could be exposed. To the east of the entrance, the south wall appeared to deviate northwards from its original line, probably representing a later alteration.
The western Building 1 contained a corn-drying or malting kiln, while an open area to the east of the flue and wing walls was covered by an extensive deposit of charcoal, coal, and ash, representing the spread of material cleared from successive firings of the kiln. Further east, an oval feature formed by a layer of closely packed stones, with the remnants of an outer structure rising from its circumference, was interpreted as the base of a bread oven. Areas of burning upon several of these stones indicated localised high temperatures within this feature.
The eastern side of the plot contained another structure (Building 2), again aligned roughly east-west and defined by its north, east and very partially surviving south and west walls, with the northern wall of Building 1 apparently abutting the north-west corner of the Building 2. |
