The earliest archaeological feature identified within the site boundary was a ditch. Measuring c.21m in length, the feature extended out of the northern baulk following an approximate north-east by south-west alignment. Excavation revealed a generally consistent V-shaped profile with slightly irregular sides and a concave base, measuring between 0.6m – 1.5m in width, 0.20m-0.60m deep with a general increase in depth towards the north-east. The ditch did not appear to have been maintained and was filled with a homogenous friable brown – grey silt sand deposit. (1)

Datable ceramic material, in the form of one body sherd of handmade pottery (AAJ), was retrieved from the fill of the ditch, dating to the Iron Age period. (1)

The paucity of charcoal or charred grains retrieved from environmental samples would suggest that the ditch was located away from any settlement foci. (1)

<1> Victoria Owen, 2018, Calverton (Burnt Stump) Quarry, Arnold, Nottinghamshire Phase 3: Strip, Map, and Record (Unpublished document). SNT5753.

<2> Northamptonshire Archaeology, Aug 1998, Geophysical Survey at Burntstump, Near Arnold, Nottinghamshire (Unpublished document). SNT2431.