TEST PITS
ARCHAEOLOGICAL TEST PITS IN BINGHAM
List of Test Pits
LA28
52, LONG ACRE
SUMMARY
- The pit was dug in the front garden of a modern house on Long Acre.
- A layer of builder’s sand at 40 cm seems to mark the ground level at the time the house was built. Above this layer there are sand lenses with soil and it suggests that all of the material here was laid during landscaping after the modern bungalow was built.
- The top of the weathered zone above the basal clay was at 60 cm. Building materials between 40 and 60 cm depth relate to the demolition of the house that was on this site before the 1960s development. The material is stacked up against a pile of stones and cannot be in situ.
- The basal clay has a weathered zone about 20 cm thick in which soil and weathered clay are mixed. This weathered zone was not bottomed. The boundary above it is sharp which confirms that the soil overlying the weathered zone is not in situ.
- There is a difference in the content of the soils above and below the sand layer. The upper 40 cm contains most of the 20th C material, but mixed with it is one sherd of medieval Nottingham Splashed Ware. Below 40 cm there are sherds of all ages from medieval to Modern. 70% of all the Modern sherds were found at this level. Transfer print and White Ware make up most of the collection, but there is a considerable diversity of minor types, including some like Staffordshire White Salt-glaze Stoneware that are typically mid 18th century.
- Post-medieval pottery includes Midland Black Ware, Coarse Black Ware, Mottled Ware and Slipware. Several large pieces of Coarse Black Ware, including a large rim piece, came from a chamber pot. There was no post-medieval pottery older than mid 16th century.
- The only medieval pottery found other than in the topsoil was a piece of Midland Purple Ware (1380-1600) right at the bottom of the pit in the zone of mixed weathered clay and soil. It is presumed that this is in situ.
- The conclusion is that all the material above the mixed zone of soil and weathered clay is not in situ. The Midland Purple Ware sherd in the weathered zone is probably indicative of the earliest activity at this site.
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