One of the earliest feature identified on site has been interpreted as a north east/south west orientated boundary ditch extending along the centre of the site for a distance of 42.5m It is cut by all other features with which it comes into contact. Only part of the ditch was revealed within the excavated area. At its eastern end it extended beyond the limit of excavation. Its western end turned and follows a north west/south east orientation for a distance of 8m.

The ditch was sampled by excavation at six separate points along its exposed length. Its depth and shape were variable over its extent from a minimum of 180mm to a maximum of 600mm. Generally its sides sloped but the base varied from being flat to rounded.

Finds recovered from the excavated sections of the boundary ditch comprised pottery which specialist analysis has dated to between the 12th and 14th centuries. The majority of the finds were recovered from the upper fills of the ditch. The various types of pottery can be identified and a date range given for them. Pot from different centuries in the medieval period was not strategraphically separated in the ditch fill. The individual shards can be dated with confidence but the lack of stratagraphic relationships mean that the date of deposition and therefore the ditch itself is less clear.

At one point the excavation of the ditch, an assemblage of early to middle (4th to 9th century) Anglo-Saxon pottery was recovered. As with the medieval pottery from the other cuts across the ditch these finds were concentrated in the upper fills of the ditch and are probably redeposited from a no longer existing feature. Whilst they do not help to clarify the dating of the ditch they, along with other Anglo-Saxon pottery of the same date from one of the pits constitute and indication of pre-conquest activity close to the site.

L. Platt, 2013, Attenborough Village Excavation: Report of an Archaeological Excavation in Advance of New Flood Defence, Page 5 (Unpublished document). SNT5839.