EXCAVATIONS AT AYLESBY, SOUTH HUMBERSIDE, 1994 Ken Steedman and Martin Foreman Re-formatted 2014 by North East Lincolnshire Council Archaeological Services This digital report has been produced from a hard/printed copy of the journal Lincolnshire History and Archaeology (Volume 30) using text recognition software, and therefore may contain incorrect words or spelling errors not present in the original. The document remains copyright of the Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology and the Humberside Archaeology Unit and their successors. This digital version is also copyright of North East Lincolnshire Council and has been provided for private research and education use only and is not for reproduction, distribution or commercial use. Front Cover: Aylesby as it may have looked in the medieval period, reconstructed from aerial photographs and excavated evidence (watercolour by John Marshall). Image reproduced courtesy of the Society for Lincolnshire History & Archaeology © 1994 CONTENTS EXCAVATIONS AT AYLESBY, SOUTH HUMBERSIDE, 1994 ........................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 1 SELECT DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE FOR THE PARISH OF AYLESBY ................................. 3 PREVIOUS ARCHAEOLOGICAL WORK ........................................................................................ 8 THE EXCAVATIONS ....................................................................................................................... 10 Methodology................................................................................................................................... 10 Results ............................................................................................................................................ 11 Discussion of the buildings and other structures ............................................................................ 25 THE POTTERY ................................................................................................................................. 28 Aylesby ........................................................................................................................................... 28 Little London .................................................................................................................................. 32 Catalogue ........................................................................................................................................ 33 THE OTHER FINDS.......................................................................................................................... 36 Objects of copper alloy ................................................................................................................... 36 Objects of lead ................................................................................................................................ 36 Objects of iron ................................................................................................................................ 37 Catalogue ........................................................................................................................................ 41 Object of stone ................................................................................................................................ 42 THE BIOLOGICAL REMAINS ........................................................................................................ 43 Summary ........................................................................................................................................ 43 The soil samples ............................................................................................................................. 43 Results ............................................................................................................................................ 43 Discussion ...................................................................................................................................... 44 Bone................................................................................................................................................ 45 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................. 46 Settlement development ................................................................................................................. 46 The layout of the medieval village ................................................................................................. 48 TRIAL EXCAVATION AND WATCHING BRIEF AT LITTLE LONDON ...................................... 50 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................................. 51 NOTES ............................................................................................................................................... 51 EXCAVATIONS AT AYLESBY, SOUTH HUMBERSIDE, 1994 Ken Steedman and Martin Foreman with contributions from Peter Didsbury, Anne Mitson, Lisa Wastling, Jon Watt, and staff of the Environmental Archaeology Unit, York INTRODUCTION Excavations were undertaken by the Humberside Archaeology Unit between 23 May and 6 July 1994, close to the village of Aylesby, South Humberside, in advance of the construction of a new water main by Anglian Water Engineering Building Services Limited, sponsors of the fieldwork and subsequent report production (Site Code HBS 94; National Grid Reference TA 2041 0711; Figs 1 and 2). The excavation followed a programme of assessment along the routes of a number of related pipelines - a distribution main and a nitrates scheme -which passed through the parishes of Habrough, Aylesby, Immingham, Stallingborough, Healing and Grimsby (in Humberside), and Riby (in Lincolnshire). An initial desk-based assessment, produced by the Unit in November 1993,1 identified a number of areas of archaeological interest, and recommended further evaluation, commencing with geophysical survey;2 unfortunately, a programme of fieldwalking intended to complement the geophysical survey could not take place due to crop cultivation. Trial excavations followed to refine the results of the geophysical survey, and these confirmed the presence of archaeological features south of Aylesby. Accordingly, two open areas totalling c.1300m2 in area (East and West, here abbreviated to E and W), were excavated in advance of construction of the pipeline, and this report details the results of that work, and relevant trial trenches nearby (Fig. 3). A single trial trench at Little London, near Stallingborough, within which a small number of features were recorded, is also presented as an appendix to the report. The village of Aylesby lies on the Lincolnshire Marsh, more specifically the Middlemarsh, an area, generally above 7m OD, which is slightly undulating. The land begins its steep rise to the Wolds a short distance to the west of the village. Aylesby lies at the intersection of two sub-glacial drainage channels, one represented by a band of fluvioglacial gravels which runs south-east from beyond Brocklesbury, while the other, descending from the Wolds, has an alluvium-filled channel running along another band of gravels, eventually joining the line of the Laceby Beck and the River Freshney.3 A watercourse follows the line of this latter channel above ground as far as Barton Street (the A18) west of Aylesby, and the much altered Little Beck runs along its line to the east, though between the two, south of the village, it has since been diverted through a series of field dykes. A stream may have run along this line in medieval times, part of the route of which survives as a dyke running east from Church Lane (defining the northern edge of the field containing the main excavations); this feature clearly divides two areas of ridge and furrow on contrasting alignments (see Fig. 4). Soil marks visible on aerial photographs hint at its continuance east and west of this. Sand and chalky gravels were encountered in both excavation areas, for the most part overlain by calcareous coarse loamy soils. 1 Fig. 1: Location map, showing sites mentioned in the text. Insets show areas covered by Fig. 3 (Aylesby) and Fig. 21 (Little London). Based upon Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 map © Crown Copyright. Image reproduced courtesy of the Society for Lincolnshire History & Archaeology © 1994 Fig. 2: The village of Aylesby viewed from the south, with the route of the water pipeline clearly visible in the foreground (© David Lee 1995). Image reproduced courtesy of the Society for Lincolnshire History & Archaeology © 1994 2 SELECT DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE FOR THE PARISH OF AYLESBY Anne Mitson The early history of Aylesby, like so many parishes not only in Lincolnshire, but throughout England, is obscure. Aylesby, however, lay within the Danelaw in the later Saxon period, the name suggesting a new settlement or a renaming by the settlers.4 At the time of Domesday, Aylesby was a community of some significance. The land was held by a number of tenants-in-chief: the Bishop of Durham, Count Alan, Alfred of Lincoln, and the Count of Britany, tenants who also had a considerable interest in neighbouring parishes.5 The Bishop of Durham continued to hold an interest in the manor of Aylesby, certainly as late as 1409.6