TEST PITS
ARCHAEOLOGICAL TEST PITS IN BINGHAM
List of Test Pits
LA31
62, LONG ACRE
SUMMARY
- The test pit site is at the corner of Jebb’s Lane and Long Acre. In 1586 it was part of the estate owned by Brian Stapleton and the tenant on this plot was Robert Selby. Jebb’s Lane was called Selby Lane at the time and at the junction between it and Husband Street (now Long Acre) was the Selby cross. The Selby farmhouse is presumed to have been at or near the site of the test pit.
- In 1776 the tenant was John Johnson, but by 1841 there was a row of five cottages along Long Acre on this site. The tenants of these cottages in 1911 are known from the census and there is a photograph of them dated 1896.
- All except the lowest few centimetres of the sequence revealed in the test pit is man made.
- At the bottom is Triassic red clay with a few centimetres of weathered material on top. It was in this zone that a single sherd of medieval Light Bodied Gritty Ware was found in association with bones and a sherd of 18th century Vitrified Coarse Earthenware.
- Overlying this material was a layer of crushed Triassic red clay which formed the foundation to the cobbled surface on it. The clay layer contained late 17th C Slip-trailed Ware, and 19th century pottery, including Flow Blue, which was typically abundantly made in the period 1840-1860. Red clay used as a foundation layer has been found in several locations in test pits in Bingham dating from the 13th to 20th centuries.
- The cobbled surface was well made with most of the cobbles laid on edge and was probably laid in the second half of the 19th century.
- It had been dug through to lay a drain. Remains of a broken drainpipe were stamped John Knowles, Woodville and would have been made in the Derby works between 1914 and 1970. The drain flowed towards the current house and was probably an outflow from the old cottages.
- Overlying the drain was a layer of asphalt. Before this was put down the cobbles were covered with a thin layer of stony soil containing some pottery. Two small pieces of late 16th/17th century Midland Yellow Ware found embedded between stones were probably introduced at this time. The purpose of the soil layer seems to have been to level off the surface before putting the asphalt down.
- At some time later the asphalt was covered with about 2 cm of mortar, the purpose of which is unknown.
- On this layer of mortar is building rubble consisting of debris from the demolished 19th C cottages and modern bricks. This is covered by topsoil brought onto the site during landscaping when the modern building was finished.
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