Monument record 0946300000 - Poultry Farm, Townside

Evaluation trial trenching carried out by John Moore Heritage Services in August 2006 identified 4 phases of Medieval activity. The earliest surviving features predated the 13th century and comprised 2 shallow NW-SE gullies, one 0.34m wide, 0.08m deep and visible for 1.7m, the other 0.5m wide, 0.1m deep and visible for 0.9m, and a single rectangular posthole 0.3m long, 0.22m wide and 0.05m deep. All features had been severely truncated by a period of cultivation in the 13th century, resulting in a buried soil layer 0.25m - 0.4m thick. Later in the 13th century 3 irregular quarry pits had been dug, presumably for whitchert. These measured over 1.1m X over 0.7m and over 0.5m deep, over 1.8m X 3m and over 0.7m deep, and over 2m diameter and over 0.8m deep. In the late 13th or early 14th century a second period of cultivation resulted in a buried soil layer 0.4m thick. A possible large NW-SE boundary ditch 1.1m wide, 0.75m deep and visible for over 2m was probably associated with the period of cultivation. The site may have gone out of use until the 19th century when a NW-SE limestone wall at least 1.2m long, 0.6m wide and surviving to a height of 0.14m was constructed, probably as a property or farmyard wall along the street frontage. See report for detail (B1).