Search

TEST PITS

ARCHAEOLOGICAL TEST PITS IN BINGHAM

List of Test Pits

CB31
3, RUTLAND ROAD
 
SUMMARY

  • The pit site in 1586 was at the boundary between two holdings and it has not changed to the present. Various tenants and householders occupied the land here, but it always seems to have been agricultural until the present house was built in 1960s. Before this building phase a house stood in where Rutland Road now is close to No 3 and was demolished to make way for the development.
    The pit revealed a 20th C rubbish pit dug into the basal clay and covered with made ground that relates to the building phase in the 1960s.
    The topsoil was probably laid at the end of the project and taken from a stock held for this purpose. The upper layer of made ground beneath it is likely to be re-deposited from nearby during the preparation for the building work, but beneath 40 cm depth there is a layer with abundant rubbish such as glass that may relate to the underlying rubbish dump.
  • The rubbish dump had been made by digging a pit into the basal clay. It contains only 20th C material. The dump is likely to be the domestic dump for the house that stood where the road is in front of this bungalow and which was demolished to make way for this new development. Among its contents are horseshoes, which may indicate that the occupant of the house was a carrier.
  • The made ground above the rubbish dump contains building materials and pottery that is probably also associated with the pre-existing house. Most of the pottery is mid to late 19th C and early 20th C.
  • The medieval and post-medieval finds, which are very few, are almost certainly residual material left in the fields after manuring. Their age pattern shows a gap from the late 14th C to the mid 17th C, which is seen in other pits near here. It is possible that this shows how the land was not worked for a considerable time after the Black Death in the mid 14th C, when it is known that in the Foster’s Lane and East Street sites a period of occupation that had started in the Iron Age came to an end.

Click here for a detailed account of the pit

Back to Source


Home Page | About Us | Contact Us | Newsletter

Site developed by Ambrow Limited | Published by the Bingham Heritage Trails Association | All content is © BHTA

Back to
top of page