The latest phase of activity before the construction of the former Minster School appears to have taken place in the late post-medieval period, and to have been largely concerned with water management. The post-medieval ditch complex may be associated with one of the extensive land drainage and reclamation schemes widely carried out in association with the process of enclosure, since the radiocarbon date from the lengthsof timber laid within one drain suggests that these features date to the late 18th or early 19th centuries; if the two wood samples identified as being of Pomoideae type were in fact hawthorn, this would also suggest an enclosure-period date, as ‘quickset’ hawthorn hedging was the most popular method of establishing the boundaries of newly enclosed fields. The large recut ditch may correspond to a field boundary shown on the 1841 tithe award map of Southwell, which crosses the eastern part of the site on broadly the right alignment and ends at the Potwell Dyke. No evidence was found for the western portion of this feature, which the map shows as turning slightly northwards to join the southern boundary of the plot within which the Minster stands, but as the existing portions of both ditches survived to a depth of no more than 0.24m, it is entirely plausible that the construction of the school might have obliterated their continuations to the west.

R. D. Savage and J. Sleap, 2015, Proposed Residential Development, Former Minster School Site, Church Street, Southwell, Nottinghamshire: Archaeological Excavation Report (Unpublished document). SNT5953.