Enclosure containing faint ring ditch, other linear straggly features. (1)

Morph: 216.9.1 unknown prehistoric enclosure. (2)

See L7751, L7752 for nearby earthworks.

In the centre of the site, within the area defined by features there are a large number of curvilinear and linear positive features as well as some amorphous positive anomalies. These features produced readings of at least 5 nT/m, with some as high as 10 to 12 nT/m. These likely represent ditches and pits potentially relating to settlement activity. The geophysical survey has identified a complex of features relating to previous anthropogenic activity. The main area of interest lies in the centre of the site, where there are a complicated array of positive linear and curvilinear features that represent a series of enclosures, potentially of more than one phase.There are a number of other complex linear features to the south and southwest of the main group that produced weaker readings than the central complex, suggesting that these anomalies may be away from the focus of activity and perhaps represent agricultural boundaries or stock enclosures. (3)

A series of agricultural enclosures on the periphery of settlement, and dating to the Late Iron Age to early Roman period. A feature towards the eastern side of the site produced environmental evidence indicative of possible milling and drying of grain, either for storage or for brewing, but there was no evidence to confirm that the associated activity was occurring on the site. (4)

Dating evidence for the site was recovered from a minority of the 43 features exposed, with nine features producing pottery of a Late Iron Age to early Roman date. The assemblage totalled 102 sherds of a relatively close date in the 1st century AD, potentially spanning the Iron Age/Roman transition. Although only a minority of features were dated, shared alignments of features, similarity of fills and close correspondence with the geophysical survey data suggests the majority of the activity represented at the site belongs to this period. The short time span of the pottery assemblageand the fact that there was very little in the way of intercutting, realignment or recutting of features suggest a single phase of relatively short lived activity at the site. (4)

The nature of the excavated evidence for the Iron Age/Roman phase of activity, suggests a series of probable agricultural enclosures on the periphery of a small scale rural settlement. The pottery and animal bone assemblage was largely domestic in nature and typical of the region, with no evidence for imported vessels or finewares among the ceramic evidence. No features excavated provided direct evidence for settlement activity occurring on the site, e.g. ring ditches, beamslots, hearths or ovens, nor was any building material recovered from the site, such as building stone or ceramic building material, potentially indicating that any associated structures were of a low status native tradition, employing materials such as wood and thatch that leave little trace in the archaeological record. (4)

Data Held: Aerial Photograph (Aerial photograph). SNT2645.

1 BW print, JAP 258/21, SMR

<1> Pickering J, Air photos (Aerial photograph). SNT1148.

Other Refs: 258/21 (NLAP SK 7340/24)

<2> RCHME, National Mapping Programme, Notts - Morph Data (Unknown). SNT1470.

<3> Allen Archaeology Limited, 2015, GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY BY MAGNETOMETRY ON LAND NORTH OF ABBEY LANE, ASLOCKTON,
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE (Unpublished document). SNT5288.

<4> Robert Evershed, 2016, Archaeological Evaluation Report: Trial Trenching on Land off Abbey Lane, Aslockton, Nottinghamshire (Unpublished document). SNT5847.