TEST PITS
ARCHAEOLOGICAL TEST PITS IN BINGHAM
List of Test Pits
CB32
8, EAST STREET
SUMMARY
- The 1586 map shows that there is a possibility of a cottage on this site at that time. There is somewhat stronger evidence for one in 1776, when Daniel Stafford is listed as occupying the land and two adjacent crofts called Cow Close. The Stafford family remained there until well into the 20th C and for a time ran a printing works there. This firm eventually outgrew Bingham and moved to Netherfield in Nottingham.
- The sequence seen in the test pit has topsoil overlying a layer of builder’s rubble with a layer of ash at the bottom.
- The topsoil contains a wide range of objects from Saxo-Norman pottery to modern and seems to have been re-deposited during some form of landscaping. The content is typical of the topsoil in this part of Bingham
- The builder’s rubble was probably derived during a phase of rebuilding. One measured brick, at 2.5 inches thick, is similar to the bricks on the house. Another narrower one is thought to have been rubbed to make a lintel rather than being an older type. The house shows signs of extensive remodelling over the years and the rubble is likely to be from one or more of these phases of change. Building material, however, is present in all three contexts and all of it can be related to the house.
- The builder’s rubble overlies directly the basal glacial clay in one half of the pit, but on the other side it overlies soil that passes down into the clay, some 25 cm below. It is not clear if this soil is infill in a trench or if the ground surface beneath the builder’s rubble is highly irregular. Whichever it is there is little pottery in it. The most distinctive piece is a sherd of medieval Nottingham Green Glaze.
- In the overlying builder’s rubble and topsoil the pottery ranges from Late Saxon Shelly Ware to Modern, but there is little of the older material. However, the date range is interesting in that there is nothing from the period mid 14th C to late 17th C. This is similar to the pits dug in the nearby Foster’s Lane and probably tells the same story. That is that activity here ended with the Black Death and was followed by a long period of recovery. More pits would be needed in this garden to add to this interpretation, particularly to see if there is any of the late medieval to early post-medieval Midland Purple Ware and Cistercian Ware in the area.
- The most intriguing aspect to this collection is the absence of anything to indicate that the site was inhabited in the 16th C when it is thought that in 1586 there was a cottage nearby occupied by John Wrightw.
Click here for a detailed account of the pit.