• 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

CB11
THE RECTORY, EAST STREET
 
SUMMARY

• The test pit is sited on land that has been attached to the cottage where No 2 East Street now is at least since 1586 and the history of this land is essentially their history. The present rectory was not built until 1990 on a piece of land that is to the SE of No 2 East Street and which was separated from the remainder of the ancient plot for the purpose of building a new rectory.
• The upper layer of topsoil is marked at about 20 cm depth by a layer rich in building material, which seems to suggest that this upper layer has been re-deposited after the rectory was built in 1990. Below this the topsoil changes gradually downwards to around 80 cm when subsoil appears. The basal clay is glacial till into which a post hole has been driven. A pile of stones marked the site of the post hole.
• A large variety of miscellaneous objects was collected from the top 80 cm indicating a military and religious background either to the occupants or their relatives in the adjacent house.
• The downward distribution of the pottery types by age shows an overlapping stratigraphy.
• The Modern pottery, clay pipes, coarse earthenware and stoneware all have a strong 19th C signature and are confined to the top 80 cm. Very few items in any of these classes can be attributed to the 18th C.
• All except one of the post-medieval pottery sherds were found in the topsoil. There were few of them, but they ranged in age from Cistercian Ware (1450-1550) to Staffordshire Slipware (1675-1750). One Cistercian Ware cup base was found between 80-90 cm.
• Medieval pottery is relatively numerous and occurs in two separate parts of the succession in the pit: one is above 40 cm and the other below 70 cm. There are several types of various age ranges and like the assemblage in No 2 East Street there is no break at the Black Death. Several sherds can be attributed to the period when the present church was being built in the early 13th C.
• A strong Roman assemblage occurs between 100 and 110 cm.
• The post hole is difficult to date. It is over a metre deep and contains three sherds that were not easily attributable. There was uncertainty whether they were Roman or Saxo-Norman. There is no indication that the post hole was dug through the subsoil, but seems to have been started at the top of the basal clay deposit. The hole was capped with stones and these are overlain by sediment with a strong Roman content. However, the uncertainty about the identity of the finds in it leaves us to conclude that the post hole could have been dug at any time between the 3rd C and the Norman Conquest.

Click here for a detailed account of the pit.

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