Monument record MLI20115 - Early to middle Saxon settlement at Mornington House, Gosberton

Summary

Early to middle Saxon settlement at Mornington House, Gosberton

Type and Period (7)

  • (Early Medieval/Dark Age - 410 AD to 849 AD)
  • (Early Medieval/Dark Age - 410 AD to 849 AD)
  • (Early Medieval/Dark Age - 410 AD to 849 AD)
  • (Early Medieval/Dark Age - 410 AD to 849 AD)
  • (Early Medieval/Dark Age - 410 AD to 849 AD)
  • (Early Medieval/Dark Age - 410 AD to 849 AD)
  • (Early Medieval/Dark Age - 649 AD to 849 AD)

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Full Description

PRN 20115 Abundant animal bone and early to mid Anglo-Saxon pottery (middle is Ipswich and Maxey wares). Also eight lava querns, one millstone grit quern and two rubbing stones were recovered. The finds suggest a richer than average site, and it occupies a prime settlement position on a high roddon; probably the driest settlement location in the area during the Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. The site was excavated in 1993, and was found to bear many similarities to the settlement at Chopdike Drove (PRN 20123). It comprised numerous pits and ditches, contrary to the results of two magnetometer surveys carried out previously. One of the pits contained a distinctive ashy fill with large chunks of fired clay, an almost exact replication of the ditch fills at Chopdike Drove. Of particular interest was the discovery of the remains of a rectangular structure, possibly a dwelling. It is characteristic in size and ground plan of the bulk of middle Anglo-Saxon structures, approx 11m by 5m with the entrance on the long side. It is the first such structure to be found on the fen silts. The Chopdike Drove building was similarly rectangular, although slightly larger but employed a different form of construction. It had been abandoned by the ninth century. Its height above sea level is 3.5m.{1}{2} Metal detecting at Mornington House as part of the Fenland Management Project recovered mainly iron nails and one possible middle Saxon knife. Trial trenching revealed a complex of ditches, pits, gullies and postholes in Trench 2, with other ditches and gullies in Trenches 1, 3, 4 and 5. Few features were intercut, making site phasing difficult. Ashy fills of a pit and a ditch suggest middle Saxon saltmaking activity. A series of postholes formed a rectangular building with a possible entrance in the north-west side and a possible midden was also recorded. Environmental sampling indicated an open landscape with proximity of saltmarsh vegetation. Charred cereals of barley, oats, wheat, horse bean and flax/linseed were recovered. It appears the site was abandoned for a while with development of scrub or secondary woodland. Building construction appears to relate to a phase of secondary woodland clearance. Early Saxon pottery was of a fabric type known only from the nearby site at Third Drove (PRN 20120), while the bulk of recorded features were of middle Saxon date, though not all contemporary. Site clearance may have occurred before the rectangular structure was built; a phosphate survey suggests livestock were quartered at the northern end of the building.{3}

Sources/Archives (3)

  •  Bibliographic Reference: Hayes, P. P. and Lane, T. W.. 1992. The Fenland Project No.5: Lincolnshire Survey, the South-West Fens. P 59 GAZ GOS36, 37.
  •  Article in Serial: LANE, T.W.. 1993. HERITAGE LINCOLNSHIRE THIRD ANNUAL REPORT. pp 30-32.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: Crowson, A.; Lane, T. and Reeve. J. (eds). 2000. Fenland Management Project Excavations 1991-1995. GOS 37 (GOS93), pp.116-119.

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Location

Grid reference Centred TF 1746 3175 (131m by 129m) Approximate
Civil Parish GOSBERTON, SOUTH HOLLAND, LINCOLNSHIRE

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Record last edited

Mar 21 2021 8:35PM

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