TEST PITS
ARCHAEOLOGICAL TEST PITS IN BINGHAM
List of Test Pits
LA26 and LA27
53 LONG ACRE
SUMMARY
- There were two pits in this very big garden.
- The original plot in 1586 extended from Long Acre northwards to the Market Place, but after that date part of the northern strip was built over and let to tenants who faced Market Place. A link through to the Market Place, however, remained and can be seen on both the 1776 map and the tithe map for 1841. Later in the 19th century the link through was lost and the plot widened to the east. It has remained unchanged since then. There was a farm house on the land for most of this period, but the present house is a barn conversion; the original house having been demolished.
- Pit LA27, nearest the road, yielded very few finds. Beneath a layer of hard-packed gravel there were only 30 to 50 cm of soil overlying an irregular surface of Mercia Mudstone clay. Two post holes were encountered and filled with sandy clay soil. All the pottery recovered was modern, even in the post hole fill. It does not appear to be in its original position.
- LA26 was dug in the lawn about 20 metres from the road. The lawn surface is highly irregular as it was created by laying soil over rubble generated by demolition of earlier buildings. The test pit went through at least three old surfaces; the upper one was a mix of asphalt and stones; the two below it were made of bricks. This area had been used as hard standing for steam engines and threshing machines and was hard packed and difficult to dig. The upper 70 cm of the section in LA26 are man made.
- The natural soil profile begins below this, but has been considerably disturbed. Modern and post-medieval pottery was found embedded in the weathered clay at the bottom of the pit. Though it is possible that none of the soil is in its original position there was a sort of stratigraphy below 70 cm. The maximum deposition of red-bodied coarse earthenware, for example, was above that of pink-bodied coarse earthenware, which generally is the older, while the medieval pottery was found near the bottom of the pit. This was mainly Nottingham Light-bodied Green Glaze from the 13th and early 14th centuries.
- There was a significant amount of post-medieval pottery, but much of it was Coarse Black Ware which was most likely to have been used to make chamber pots. Most of it was found below 60cm depth where it was incorporated in the make up of the lower layer of bricks.
- Modern pottery is the most abundant with about 800 finds having been collected. The majority was White Ware. Shell-edged earthenware in which blue decoration has been painted on the edges of either Pearl Ware or White Ware vessels was common. This type of ware is ubiquitous in Bingham, but nowhere has so much of it been found in one place as here. Transfer printed wares were less common, but included nearly all the colour combinations known. There were small proportions of Cream Ware, Mocha Ware, Jackfield Ware, Wedgwood Black Basalt and several other types. This assortment seems to reflect on the relative wealth of the occupants of the farmhouse on this site.
Click here for a detailed account of the pit