TEST PITS

ARCHAEOLOGICAL TEST PITS IN BINGHAM

The earliest record of this site is as a small plot belonging to a cottager, Roger Gill in 1586. It seems that there may have been a cottage on this site ever since, though the brickwork on the current building suggests that it dates no earlier than the mid 18th C. The test pit was situated on a slope in a flower garden behind the house. It reached 45 cm depth, at which point the weathered top to the Mercia Mudstone shale bedrock was encountered.
The pit revealed a natural sequence of well cultivated topsoil overlying subsoil with a layer of weathered bedrock at the bottom, but the whole sequence has been turned many times during cultivation.
Most of the pottery recovered was Modern covering all periods from the mid 18th C to recent, which corresponds to the known age of the current cottage. Among the earliest is Staffordshire Salt-glaze Stoneware, which has a date range 1720-1780. One of the 19th C types is Mocha Ware.
Only two sherds of post-medieval pottery were found. They were heavily eroded, but likely to be slipware from the late 17th to mid 18th centuries.
Three sherds of medieval pottery were Nottingham Splashed Ware and Nottingham iron-rich Green Glazed Ware, dating to a period from the late 12th to mid 13th C. They were all found near the bottom of the pit. Though the soil has been turned many times during cultivation this may be a natural profile, closely in situ and as such indicates activity in the area in the medieval period.

Click here for a detailed account of the pit