Three pits were discovered in one trench during an evaluation. (2)

The first pit was partially exposed in the western trench baulk, 13m from its southern end of a field. The pit may have been sub-circular or sub-oval, and its exposed portion measured 1.20m wide x 0.40m deep. A Neolithic flint flake was retrieved from its fill: the only accurately datable, reliably stratified find retrieved during the evaluation. An environmental sample produced abundant coal fragments and a lesser quantity of charcoal, but no identifiable plant remains. (2)

The other two were undated pits, situated close together, 282m from the northern end of the trench; their fills, which included ash as well as coal and charcoal, were similar to one another. Environmental samples from the fills of both pits produced abundant coal fragments and a lesser quantity of charcoal, but no identifiable plant remains. (2)

Excavations of the site followed later. The first area of the excavation measured 32mx23m, and lay centred on pits that had been exposed in an evaluation. The earliest horizon encountered in this area was at a depth of c.0.35m was the natural geology; a very sandy clay of orange-brown hue, which was consistently encountered across the site during these works. (1)

Cut into this were four discrete pits, two of which were confirmed as the pits previously excavated as features in the earlier evaluation. The two new pits were situated to the west of the former evaluation trench. (1)

The northernmost of the new pits lay c.1.5m to the northwest of another pit: an irregular oval in plan, the pit was shallow with a double dip base, and contained a single fill of light – mid greyish brown silty sand. (1)

Another pit lay around 12m west of the two pits discovered in the evaluation. This feature was also an irregular oval shape in plan, with a less pronounced double dip base, and contained three distinct fills. The earliest fill was similar to fill of the other new pit in colour and composition, with a profile to suggest a tip line from the north side of the feature. This was sealed on the south side of the pit by a deposit of black silty sand which contained occasional fragments of charcoal, and finally by a redeposited natural. (1)

The second area of the excavation measured 16mx15m, and lay in Field 20 c.100m south of the northern field boundary, in the area where a pit was partially exposed in an evaluation trench. Natural geology was encountered at a depth of c. 0.35m, beneath modern topsoil. The sole feature to be encountered in this area was the same pit that had been partially exposed in the original evaluation trench. The pit was the largest of the pits encountered in this excavation; oval in plan and measuring 2.25m along its longest axis. It had a regular profile, and contained a single fill of mid brownish grey sandy silt. A single fragment of coke was found within this fill. (1)

<1> S. Markus & A. Lane, 2015, Land at Lindhurst Farm, Near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire: Archaeological Excavation Report (Unpublished document). SNT5703.

<2> R.D Savage, 2013, Land at Lindhurst Farm, Near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire: Archaeological Evaluation Report. (Unpublished document). SNT5804.