TEST PITS
ARCHAEOLOGICAL TEST PITS IN BINGHAM
List of Test Pits
LA04
50 LONG ACRE
SUMMARY
- In 1586 the site of the pit was within a long plot of land linking Long Acre to The Banks and was rented from the estate by Richard Maplethorpe.
- By 1776, though the size and shape of the plot had not changed a public house, The Marquis of Granby, was sited at the Long Acre end. The landlord was Mr John Timms. It is not known when the pub was built or when it closed down. Trade directories show that John Tinkler was the landlord of the Marquis of Granby until 1855. Changes in the holding as shown on the O.S. maps of 1883 and 1910 may have coincided with the demise of the pub.
- The soil profile in the test pit is relatively straight forward with topsoil on subsoil on the weathered top of the glacial clay at the bottom. There are two complications: one is a layer 7 cm thick rich in fine coal pieces that is oblique to the context boundaries. It is thought that this is an animal burrow and the coal-rich material is infill. The second is the presence of two pits dug into the basal clay. One of these went down to 90 cm. The other smaller one is much shallower.
- The pottery recovered from the test pit is nearly all 18th to 19th C. There is no stratigraphical arrangement of the pottery. Thus, though the soil profile looks undisturbed, it has probably been turned over during cultivation and the content mixed.
- Only three medieval sherds were found and they were in the upper levels and contribute nothing to the story of the pit. Among the younger finds are a few 16th and 17th C fabrics, but nearly everything else dates from the late 17th to end 19th C. Among the forms represented are tankards made in Mottled Ware, which was commonly used in pubs during the 18th C. Other items are tableware and kitchen ware.
- There was little useful material found in the two pits dug from the bottom of the test pit, but the content in the soil above the larger one suggests that it may have been dug in the 18th C. However, though these pits were usually dug for rubbish there is no clue at to what may have been dumped in it, unless it was night soil, which may or may not have contained any solid material.
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