Monument record MLI83317 - Post medieval settlement and agricultural activity, Low Road

Summary

Post medieval settlement and agricultural activity, Low Road

Type and Period (10)

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Full Description

PRN 23794 During two phases of trial trenching in 2002, features relating to settlement and agriculture were recorded. Several gullies and ditches on parallel east/west alignments were recorded in the central and eastern part of the site. One of these ditches was dated to the seventeenth to eighteenth century from finds, while the remainder were undated. However, their proximity and the similarity of their alignment and fills suggested that they were all of the same date. These features are thought to be either dylings or part of a drainage scheme to improve the land for cultivation. Environmental analysis suggests that the ditches were filled with slow-flowing water with weeds on the upper banks, and were subject to artificial clearance and maintenance, supporting their interpretation as dylings.{1}{2}{3} The western part of the site contained ditches, gullies, stakeholes and postholes. Most of these features were undated, but a curved ditch and a posthole were dated to the sixteenth to seventeenth century from pottery finds, and the undated features were thought to be contemporaneous. A large ditch was initially thought to represent an enclosure, but secondary trial trenching revealed that the area enclosed was too small for a yard or croft. The area enclosed by the ditch was however large enough to accommodate a two-bay mud and stud building, with the ditch representing a drip gully. An absence of occupation features mitigated against this but the packed-earth floor of a mud and stud building and any associated finds could have been ploughed away, and no alternative explanation could be offered from the surviving evidence. Further post- and stakeholes suggested that there were several phases of building and demolition of timber structures on the site.{1}{2}{3} Further excavations were carried out in the area of the conjectured mud and stud building (Area 2), around which the enclosure ditch or gutter was identified with an apparent entrance in the north western corner. It is thought that the feature dates to the sixteenth century. Inside the enclosure ditch were some undated post holes, perhaps forming a structure which was contemporary with the ditch and building. The features identified within the ditch do not make a complete house plan and are not substantial enough to support a timber building, and furthermore very little domestic refuse was recovered, suggesting that this may not have been a dwelling. However, it is possible that the spoil excavated from the ditch was used to build up the ground level so that the house would be on higher, drier land. Plough action may have removed these remains. Alternatively it may have been a base for a 'rick' which is a stack of mown hay, reeds or straw. Another explanation is that the ditch and mound supported an insubstantial wooden agricultural building (such as a 'hovel' or a 'cote'). A pit cut the through the enclosure ditch or gutter indicates that the feature had fallen out of use by the eighteenth century. In the west of the site further evidence for seventeenth and eighteenth century dylings was recorded. This appears to be an attempt to establish arable agriculture, or to form areas for better grazing. {4}

Sources/Archives (4)

  •  Report: Archaeological Project Services. 2002. Land at Low Road, Spalding. SLR01.
  •  Report: Archaeological Project Services. Aug 2002. Land at Low Road, Spalding. SLR02.
  •  Archive: Archaeological Project Services. Aug 2002. Land at Low Road, Spalding. LCNCC 2001.453.
  •  Report: Archaeological Project Services. 2003. Archaeological Excavation on Land at Low Road, Spalding. SLR02.

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Location

Grid reference Centred TF 2597 2300 (216m by 217m) Centre
Civil Parish SPALDING, SOUTH HOLLAND, LINCOLNSHIRE

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Related Events/Activities (3)

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Record last edited

Mar 21 2021 8:35PM

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