Archaeological Test Pit Excavations in Gaywood, Norfolk, in 2010-2013 Catherine Collins 1 2 Archaeological Test Pit Excavations in Gaywood, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, in 2010, 2011 and 2013 Catherine Collins 2018 Access Cambridge Archaeology Department of Archaeology University of Cambridge Pembroke Street Cambridge CB2 3QG 01223 761519 [email protected] http://www.access.arch.cam.ac.uk/ (Front cover image: Excavation at GAY/11/2. © ACA) 3 4 Contents 1 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................... 11 2 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 13 2.1 ACCESS CAMBRIDGE ARCHAEOLOGY .................................................................................... 13 2.2 THE HIGHER EDUCATION FIELD ACADEMY (HEFA) ............................................................. 13 2.3 TEST PIT EXCAVATION AND RURAL SETTLEMENT STUDIES ..................................................... 14 3 AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND DESIRED OUTCOMES ............................................................. 15 3.1 AIMS ...................................................................................................................................... 15 3.2 OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................................... 15 3.3 OUTCOMES ............................................................................................................................ 15 4 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................ 16 5 LOCATION .................................................................................................................................. 17 5.1 THE SETTLEMENT TODAY ....................................................................................................... 17 5.2 GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY ................................................................................................ 19 6 ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ................................................ 20 6.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ................................................................................................... 20 6.2 ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND ......................................................................................... 25 6.2.1 Prehistoric .......................................................................................... 25 6.2.2 Romano-British .................................................................................. 26 6.2.3 Anglo-Saxon ...................................................................................... 26 6.2.4 Medieval ............................................................................................ 26 6.2.5 Post medieval and later ...................................................................... 27 6.2.6 Undated ............................................................................................. 28 7 RESULTS OF THE TEST PIT EXCAVATIONS IN GAYWOOD ......................................... 29 7.1 THE 2010 EXCAVATIONS ........................................................................................................ 30 7.2 THE 2011 EXCAVATIONS ........................................................................................................ 38 7.3 THE 2013 EXCAVATIONS ........................................................................................................ 61 8 DISCUSSION .............................................................................................................................. 73 8.1 PREHISTORIC ......................................................................................................................... 73 8.2 ROMANO-BRITISH.................................................................................................................. 75 8.3 ANGLO SAXON....................................................................................................................... 75 8.4 MEDIEVAL ............................................................................................................................. 76 8.5 POST MEDIEVAL AND LATER ................................................................................................. 77 9 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................ 79 10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... 80 11 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................ 81 12 APPENDICES ......................................................................................................................... 83 12.1 POTTERY REPORTS – PAUL BLINKHORN ................................................................................. 83 12.1.1 2010 Pottery Results .......................................................................... 86 12.1.2 2011 Pottery Report ........................................................................... 88 12.1.3 2013 Pottery Report ........................................................................... 95 12.2 OTHER FINDS – CATHERINE COLLINS ...................................................................................... 98 12.2.1 2010 test pit finds ............................................................................... 98 12.2.2 2011 test pit finds ..............................................................................104 5 12.2.3 2013 test pit finds ..............................................................................115 12.3 MAPS ................................................................................................................................... 120 List of Figures Figure 1: Map of England with close up insert of East Anglia and the approximate location of Gaywood highlighted in red .................................................................... 17 Figure 2: The extent of King’s Lynn with Gaywood situated to the north east of the city centre © Crown Copyright/database right 2018. An Ordnance Survey/EDINA supplied service, 1: 40,000 .................................................................................................... 18 Figure 3: A close up of the Gaywood area of King’s Lynn © Crown Copyright/database right 2018. An Ordnance Survey/EDINA supplied service, 1: 10,000 ....................... 18 Figure 4: Extent of the town of Lynn during the 15th century (© http://users.trytel.com/~tristan/towns/lynnmap1.html Accessed December 2017) .... 21 Figure 5: 1880’s OS Map of Kings Lynn and Gaywood © Crown Copyright and Database rights/Ordnance Survey 2018, 1: 10,000 ................................................. 24 Figure 6: 1880’s OS close up map of Gaywood © Crown Copyright and Database rights/Ordnance Survey 2018, 1: 5,000 ................................................................... 24 Figure 7: The locations of the three years of test pitting in Gaywood (NB test pits not to scale) © Crown Copyright/database right 2018. An Ordnance Survey/EDINA supplied service, 1: 5,000 ........................................................................................ 29 Figure 8: Location map of the Gaywood test pits from 2010 (NB test pits not to scale) © Crown Copyright/database right 2018. An Ordnance Survey/EDINA supplied service, 1: 5,000 ...................................................................................................... 30 Figure 9: Location map of GAY/10/1 ....................................................................... 31 Figure 10: Location map of GAY/10/2...................................................................... 32 Figure 11: Location map of GAY/10/3...................................................................... 33 Figure 12: Location map of GAY/10/4...................................................................... 34 Figure 13: The possible beam slot excavated from GAY/10/4 ................................. 35 Figure 14: Location map of GAY/10/5...................................................................... 36 Figure 15: Location map of GAY/10/6...................................................................... 37 Figure 16: Location map of the Gaywood test pits from 2011 (NB test pits not to scale) © Crown Copyright/database right 2018. An Ordnance Survey/EDINA supplied service, 1: 5,000 ...................................................................................................... 38 Figure 17: Location map of GAY/11/1...................................................................... 39 Figure 18: Location map of GAY/11/2...................................................................... 40 Figure 19: Location map of GAY/11/3...................................................................... 41 Figure 20: Location map of GAY/11/4...................................................................... 42 Figure 21: Location map of GAY/11/5...................................................................... 43 Figure 22: Location map of GAY/11/6...................................................................... 44 Figure 23: Location map of GAY/11/8.....................................................................