Monument record 0417200000 - Site of coprolite extraction, 100M NE LITTLE MARSH FARM

Dimensions - Length 0140 m Width 0040
ELONGATED RECTANGULAR PLATFORM C1M HIGH WITH CLEAR CORNERS. NW CORNER DAMAGED MOUND C1.5M. E END, SLIGHTLY LOWER, HAS SQUARE WATER HOLDING AREA PRESUMABLY POND. TRACES OF CURVED BANK ON W SIDE (B1).
APPARENTLY PLACE WHERE COPROLITE WAS WASHED. MOUND 80 X 30M (B2).
WATERHOLDING AREA WAS WASHING WELL (B3).

An area of coprolite workings and associated washing platform of post medieval date are visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data as extant earthworks and cropmarks and were mapped as part of the Aylesbury Vale Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18604). Located at the site of Little Marsh Farm, Great and Little Kimble cum Marsh, and centred at SP 80720 09530. Documented as a site of a slurry pan (O’Connor p77 (map) and p85), for washing of fossils that had been dug out, before they were moved out on the nearby tramway (see MBC11136). The remains of the coprolite extraction at Little Marsh Farm can be seen on aerial photographs as irregular cropmarks/soilmarks and on lidar visualisations as uneven ground. There are three areas of excavations one approximately 300m to the west of the site of the farm, another approximately 340m to the east and a third approximately 310m to the south. Modern land use is ley pasture, in irregular shaped small fields, so the earthworks that are visible have been reduced or levelled by ploughing. The area is crossed by ditches which may be former boundaries or trackways associated with coprolite extraction or the farm or even earlier occupation; an area of early medieval and medieval finds is recorded to the south east of the site of the farm (see MBC22327) and two fields, forming a curved enclosure to the south of the site of the farm, are clear on aerial photographs. Similarly, within the farmyard, boundaries of yards or small enclosures are also visible on lidar visualisations; part of the boundary of the farm yard also forms the parish boundary between Ellesborough and Great and Little Kimble cum Marsh. Some of the features mapped at this site may be part of the coprolite workings or part of earlier occupation at the site of Little Marsh Farm. (6-11)