The main period of occupation on the site appears to have been from the early 13th century to the mid-14th, with possible traces of earlier medieval activity and a period of post-medieval re-use. No evidence for any prehistoric, Roman or early Saxon presence on the site was retrieved, and there was little evidence that the site continued in use between the 15th and 17th centuries.

The greatest density of stone structures was at the south end of the western (street-fronting) edge of the site. A wall foundation was L-shaped, apparently forming the north-east corner of a rectangular structure, and survived to a maximum of three courses high. Its construction trench was chiefly cut into the natural, but also truncated an undated pit. It displayed a fair face to the south-west and north-west-facing (interior) sides, with rubble behind; several larger, squared stones still in position at the exterior sides of the wall suggested that it had originally been fair-faced on both sides with rubble packing in the centre, but had been disturbed or robbed. The interior angle of the wall was overlain by a layer of hard-packed silty clay 0.12m deep that was probably a floor surface. Finds of willow-pattern pottery and clay tobacco pipe are recorded on the context sheet for this deposit, but were discarded on site. The possible floor was bedded on a compact layer of silty clay and stone rubble that was exposed but not excavated. A later wall ran along the south-east-facing (external) edge of the wall: the later wall also had a fair exterior face with rubble infill behind. The natural clay, probably redeposited from the excavation of the construction trenches, appeared to have been used as bonding material in both structures.

To the south of the main wall, the remains of two stone wall footings were exposed in a small extension area, excavated to allow for service groundworks. Both walls ran roughly north-west to south-east, and extended outside the 2.20m excavation area in both directions. One of the walls was 0.50m wide, and was partially overlain by the narrower, more recent wall; both were heavily disturbed by tree roots. Although no dating evidence was retrieved from the structures, which were exposed but not further excavated, a substantial assemblage of pottery, consisting of sherds from five medieval vessels and a single residual 10th-century sherd, was retrieved from a sandy silt deposit 0.40m deep overlying both walls. The orientation of either structure could be seen as perpendicular to the later wall footing or parallel to the north side of main wall footing (both mentioned above): it is possible that the older structure was associated with the main wall, forming three sides of a building roughly six metres long and at least four metres wide, while later structure may have been associated with the later wall, forming two sides of a later building on a slightly different alignment.

A well was situated directly to the north-east of the main wall footing. The well consisted of circular cut, 2.0m in diameter at the surface, with a facing of stones set into a lining of redeposited natural clay; its diameter narrowed with depth. Part of the stone revetting had collapsed. Excavation of the well had to be abandoned at a depth of 0.70m due to safety considerations and flooding: the only fill seen was mid-grey sandy silty clay 1062, interpreted on site as material that had accumulated naturally following the abandonment of the well. Finds from this material included ten sherds of pottery displaying a wide range of dates, with the earliest being from 13th-century Nottingham Glazed Ware jugs (each of the four sherds was from a different vessel) and the latest dating to the 19th century; an unidentifiable fragment of brick or tile; several pieces of a single cattle bone,and a fragment of 19th to 20th-century clay tobacco pipe stem.

Two small pits or post-holes were located immediately to the south and south-west of the well, with two intercutting pits of similar size further to the west; two larger pits lay to its north, at a greater distance. The pit to the south of the well was a sub-circular and measured 0.42m x 0.38m x 0.18m; the south-western pit was partially overlain by the main wall, but appeared to be of roughly similar size, although shallower. An iron nail retrieved from the sandy silt fill of the pit south of the well was in poor condition, but could be identified as a typical hand-forged construction nail, probably from a wooden structure. It is possible that these two features represented the supports of a structure or roof over the well, and if so, the stratigraphic position of the south-western pit may indicate that the well pre-dated the main wall. However, a third feature of similar dimensions, a small pit or posthole, with its recut, formed a line with the two other pits that extended beyond the well to the western edge of excavation, so it is also plausible that the small pits had no connection with the well, but represented one end of a fence or wall parallel to the north-facing element of the main wall, possibly an earlier post-built structure replaced by the stone wall footing. Two pits were each at a distance of approximately two metres from the north side of the well. One was the larger of the two at 0.64m wide and 0.23m deep, was asymmetrical in profile and produced three sherds of medieval pottery and one 17th- to 18th-century sherd from one fill, while the other pit was only 0.40m wide and 0.16m deep, with vertical sides suggesting that it may have held a post. Although the second pit was located within a stone spread, it lay in a bare patch within the spread, and no stratigraphic relationship could be ascertained. The positions of these two features also give the impression of being associated with the well, although they do not correspond with the post-holes on its south side, and the date from the first pit may fall within the period of the well’s use.

An L-shaped stone structure was located on the north side of the site: it appeared to be a fragment of wall footing made of dry-laid rubble blocks, extending south-south-westwards from the northern excavation edge for a distance of approximately four metres and making a right-angled turn to run approximately two metres to west-north-west. The projected line of this return would run roughly parallel to a line drawn between the two small pits to the north of the well, as well as to a line drawn between the four post-holes, to the north side of the main wall footing and to the orientations of two wall fragments, suggesting a row or sequence of buildings along the street frontage of the site. Two sherds of medieval pottery were found among the stones: one from a probably 13th-century jug and another from a 13th- to 15th-century jar or bowl.

Three sherds of 13th-century pottery and parts of two hand-forged iron construction nails were retrieved from a series of stony layers or ruble spreads, each consisting of fragments of siltstone in a matrix of silty clay with gravel, interpreted on site as areas of metalling or yard surfacing. One spread produced a relatively large pottery assemblage representing 17 different vessels, chiefly of 13th-century date (one late Saxon and two early medieval sherds were interpreted as residual), with a U-shaped iron object that might have been a large staple or a joiner’s dog, and part of a possibly later medieval horseshoe. A strip of stone fragments in a silty clay matrix overlying the north-western edge of the spread, produced sherds of pottery from eight medieval jugs and a residual Saxo-Norman jar or bowl; an unidentifiable CBM fragment; a fragment of possibly 19th to 20th-century window glass; a glass bottle-stopper of possible 19th- to 20th-century or earlier date, and a post-medieval horseshoe nail. This deposit was thought on site to represent either a repair to the stone surface represented by another layer or a path bordering it, running around the rear of the buildings. Anoter much smaller spread lay behind the possible building sequence (first paragraph), this deposit produced a number and variety of finds, including five sherds from ceramic vessels of mixed medieval and post-medieval dates, the most recent being of late 17th to 18th-century date; fragments from a single piece of furnace slag formed during iron production and retaining charcoal impressions; an incomplete whetstone; a fragment of a rectangular-sectioned iron object that might have been part of a nail, a bolt or a chisel, and a piece of modern earthenware drainpipe.

To the rear of the street-fronting buildings, a fragment of a roughly north-west to south-east aligned linear feature and a pit lay in a gap between two stony layers. The linear feature was only 5.0m long but up to 1.80m wide and 0.54m deep at its north-west end, tapering to 0.98m wide and 0.32m deep at the south-east, more reminiscent of a narrow, elongated pit than of a section of ditch. However, its south-east end appeared to coincide with two ditch terminals (see below) to form a three-way junction with entrances, each about two metres wide, to either side of a central partition formed by one of the terminals, while the extent of the root disturbance to its uneven, variable profile and the disturbed appearance of its fill, a very dark grey silty clay with patches of redeposited natural, suggested that this feature may have represented a grubbed-out stretch of hedge. Immediately adjacent to the north-west terminal of the other terminal, a circular pit was roughly the same width but considerably at 1.40m diameter and 0.18m deep, with an almost flat base; a fill produced two sherds of 13th-century pottery.

The two structural elements rested on a compact silty clay deposit with frequent small stone fragments, possibly a levelling or ground raising layer, overlying the fill of ditch section. An assemblage of early medieval and medieval pottery, probably dating to the 13th or 14th century, was retrieved from either the fill of the ditch section or from compacted deposit above it, although due to a recording error it is uncertain which. One structural element was a broad, rectangular structure, irregularly coursed but with a distinct fair face on the south side and traces of one on the north, measuring 2.30m west-north-west to east-south-east and 1.10m wide, and surviving to three courses high: it was probably part of a wall footing, although it seems unusually wide for this purpose. A smaller, much narrower structure, wall footing remnant ran northwards for a distance of 1.3m from the north side of the first structural element: the two walls were not the same build, and the latter seems likely to have been the more recent. A wall footing in the centre of the group and overlying the possible north-to-south ditch, was a well-preserved L-shaped structure, 1.4m long and 0.40m wide, representing the north-east corner of a rectilinear building. It was constructed of unworked siltstone fragments bonded with redeposited natural clay, and where fully exposed, it survived to four courses high. To the west of the wall footing, at the eastern edge of the possible ground-raising layer, a stone structure aligned north-north-east to south-south-west and surviving to a length of no more than 2.5m, also appeared to be part of a rubble wall footing. All the wall fragments in this area consisted of siltstone fragments bonded with redeposited natural clay.

The site appears to have gone out of use in the late 14th century, and little activity other than the probable retrieval of re-usable stone from the derelict buildings appears to have taken place here during the 15th, 16th and early 17th centuries, although it seems likely that the well remained open and may have continued in use.

The nature of the pottery corpus from the site was principally domestic, suggesting that the buildings were dwellings rather than agricultural buildings – no identifiable structural features of houses, such as hearths, were found, but the shallowness of the ditches and pits on the site suggests that the ground level on the site has been reduced, and floor-level features are unlikely to have left traces.

R.D Savage & L. Brocklehurst, 2021, Land Adjacent to Ivy Cottage, Hawksworth Road, Syerston, Newark and Sherwood, Nottinghamshire: Report on a Scheme of Archaeological Mitigation (Unpublished document). SNT5994.