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TEST PITS

ARCHAEOLOGICAL TEST PITS IN BINGHAM

List of Test Pits

CB17
6, CHERRY STREET

SUMMARY

  • From1586 until the 1920s the site of the pit site was in either a croft or, in the 19th C, an orchard. Cottages thought to be within the croft were generally not close to the site of the pit.
  • The topsoil in the pit is 40 cm thick and has probably been re-deposited after building the row of semis along the street in the 1920s. The best evidence for this is that there is a layer with charcoal and fire-cracked stones at the base of the topsoil. This might imply that the subsoil was, in fact, the original topsoil.
  • The subsoil passes into the basal clay through a weathered and mixed zone with stones, but there is a pit dug into the basal clay and one quadrant of it was exposed in the test pit.
  • The building material, glass, clay pipes, modern and post-medieval pottery were all found mostly in the topsoil. However, there is a sort of stratigraphy with finds of deceasing age appearing first at progressively higher levels; Roman at the bottom of the pit.
  • Roman pottery is the most abundant, as in neighbouring pits. About 75% of it is Grey Ware, but there were sherds of several other fabrics including Black Burnished Ware and Nene Valley colour coat. The date range is 1st to 4th C, but with a strong emphasis of 2nd– 3rd C material.
  • There were no early/middle Anglo-Saxon sherds, but sherds of Late Saxon and Saxo-Norman fabrics were recovered as were plenty from the medieval period. Among these were some Light-bodied Gritty Ware and Midland Purple Ware from the post-Black Death period. Most were from several fabric types dating 12th to mid 14th C. It appears, though, that there was no significant break at the mid 14th C Black Death.
  • No Cistercian Ware was recovered, but there was a good representation of a wide range of fabric types from the late 16th C to modern, including imported 17th C German stoneware and 18th C Nottingham stoneware. The glazed modern fabrics, though varied, are predominantly 19th C, with no strong evidence of 20th C wares.
  • There is no evidence, as in the neighbouring pit (No 2 Cherry Street), of a 17th C ground surface, but the level at which this might have been found is close to the top of the ‘rubbish’ pit that was dug into the basal clay. The top was at around 80 cm depth. Only Roman pottery was found in this pit together with bones, a tusk, bits of metal and a small piece of brick and it is thought that the pit might have been in use during the Roman period. There is evidence in No 8 Cherry Street of a Roman rubbish pit containing significant indicators of a Roman habitation nearby.
  • One curious find is of a piece of limestone roofing material. It was recorded between 40 and 50 cm depth, but was also present in No 8 Cherry Street among the Roman finds. This sort of roofing material is abundant at two of the sites of substantial medieval buildings (rectory and manor house). Its presence here seems to indicate that the same material was in use during Roman times.

Click here for a detailed account of the pit.

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