• BINGHAM: AN OVERVIEW
• HISTORY OF BINGHAM
  • Introduction
  • Prehistoric times
  • Iron Age
  • Roman Bingham
  • The Anglo-Saxons
  • Medieval Bingham
  • Tudor times
  • Stuart times
  • Georgian times
  • Victorian Bingham
  • 20th Century
  • 21st Century
• ARCHAEOLOGY
  • Project Details
  • Field Walking
    • Summary
    • Field Walking Method
    • Database Design
    • Details about the Parish
    • Protocol
    • Description of Finds
      • Introduction
      • Flints
      • Stone Axes
      • Iron Age
      • Roman
      • Anglo-Saxon
      • Saxo-Norman
      • Medieval
      • Post Medieval
      • Stoneware
      • Clay Pipes
      • Glass
      • 19th-20th C
      • Miscellaneous
    • Analysis of Results
      • Introduction
      • Prehistory
      • Iron Age
      • Roman
      • Anglo-Saxon
      • Medieval
      • Tudor-Stuart
      • 18th Century
      • Modern
    • References
    • Conclusions
  • Crow Close
    • Purpose and location
    • Historical background
    • Topographical survey
    • Geophysical surveys
    • Analysis of results
    • Discussion/conclusions
    • References
    • Acknowledgements
  • Test Pits
    • Market Place Dig
    • Robert Miles Jnr School
    • Archaeological test pits
    • Churchyard
  • Warner's Paddock
  • STUDY OF OLD MAPS
    • Bingham in 1586
      • Introduction
      • Interpretation
      • Town Centre
      • Additional Holdings
      • The Open Fields
        • Furlongs/Holdings/Strips
        • South Field
        • East Field
        • West Field
        • North Field
      • Holdings and Strips
        • Reconstructing holdings
        • Analysis of holdings
        • Sizes of holdings
      • Street and road names
    • Bingham in 1776
      • The Estate Terrier
      • Town Map
      • The Fields
      • Homesteads
      • Shared Tenancies
    • Bingham in 1841
      • Apportionment
      • Town Map
      • Life in 1841
      • Analysis
      • 1841-1901
  • BUILT HERITAGE
    • Introduction
    • Development of Bingham
    • House Histories
    • Old and New Views
    • Architectural Details
    • Street Names
    • St Mary Church
  • CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
  • FARMING IN BINGHAM
  • BINGHAM AT WAR
    • World War I
    • World War II
  • BINGHAM'S RAILWAYS
  • CHURCHYARD
    • Introduction
    • Search the Churchyard
    • Churchyard Map
    • Genealogical Charts
    • Inscriptions
    • Species List
  • ORAL HISTORY
  • NATURAL HISTORY
    • Wildlife and Flora
    • Natural History Surveys
    • Linear Park
  • GEOLOGY

TEST PITS

ARCHAEOLOGICAL TEST PITS IN BINGHAM

List of Test Pits

CB07
9, CHERRY STREET

SUMMARY

• This pit was one of very few that was dug in a cultivated patch of garden, rather than in a lawn.
• The soil profile is a natural one of organic topsoil (23 cm thick), subsoil and underlying basal glacial clay, but the mixing of finds of all ages down to around 60 cm depth suggests that the land has been well cultivated and the ground turned over repeatedly. That much of this has happened in the 20th C is indicated by pieces of brick, most likely to be associated with the 20th C building phase, being present down to 60 cm depth.
• The site history confirms this. Since 1586 the pit site has been in a close attached to a farm or cottage sited near or on Long Acre and as much as 70 metres north of the road. It was only in the mid-20th C when new housing was built on Cherry Street that the pit site became relatively close to a house.
• The finds from the topsoil are predominantly 19th/20th C, but throughout the full depth there is a record from Roman to modern times with no significant breaks.
• Together with the pits in the Rectory (CB11), 2 East Street (CB20) and the four in Fosters Lane, this pit has a similar range and type of pottery up to the Black Death. At this time the Fosters Lane pits fell quiet and there is no post-Black Death pottery. Here, though, alongside 2 East Street and the Rectory, there was continuity through the 14th C, suggesting that in this small enclave the local population survived the plague and remained active. It is uncertain whether the quantity found could indicate medieval habitation near here, but the proximity of the church which was being built during the 13th C might suggest that workmen did live hereabouts at that time.
• Both Midland Purple Ware (c1400-1550) and sherds of the slightly later Cistercian Ware (c1450-1550) were recovered from this pit.
• There is a reasonable concentration of finds dating from mid to late 17th C through the 18th C. However, as shown on the map reconstructions for 1586 and 1776, no housing is shown nearby at these times.

Click here for a detailed account of the pit 

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