A Beaker Burial and Iron Age to Roman Settlement at Knights Hill, King’s Lynn, Norfolk

Between the 7th February and the 22nd April 2022 Oxford Archaeology East (OAE) conducted an archaeological excavation (3.54ha) at Knights Hill, King’s Lynn, Norfolk (TF 6623 2252). This work followed a trenching evaluation (Wright 2015) which identified a Late Iron Age to Early Roman enclosure and associated features.
Four phases of activity were revealed within the excavation area that span the Early Bronze Age to post-medieval periods, with a peak during the Late Iron Age to Early Roman period.
The earliest activity is represented by six pits and a Beaker burial dating to the Early Bronze Age (Phase 1). The site then appears to have been unoccupied until the Middle to Late Iron Age (Phase 2) when a sub-square enclosure probably associated with stock-keeping was constructed, alongside a number of contemporary pits.
At some point in the Late Iron Age to Early Roman period (Phase 3) the site witnessed a number of changes, the most notable being that the Phase 2 enclosure was replaced by a much larger sub-rectangular enclosure. Contemporary settlement-related features included ditches forming sub-enclosures or boundaries within and to the east of the enclosure, in addition to numerous pits and two possible hearths. Associated finds indicate that activities such as crop-processing and metalworking were taking place, alongside stock keeping and more domestic activities. These features contained relatively large finds assemblages including pottery, animal bone, fired clay, metalwork and metalworking debris.
Settlement activity appears to have declined towards the end of the 2nd century AD and the site reverted to pasture/remained unused until the medieval to post-medieval period (Phase 4). This period was represented by a boundary/enclosure ditch, quarry pits and a pond containing medieval and post-medieval pottery, ceramic building material, clay tobacco pipe and glass.
This site adds to the expanding picture of Early Bronze Age activity in the area surrounding Reffley Wood Barrow which was (possibly) uncovered within the southern part of the development area during the previous evaluation (Wright 2015). The continuity of use from the Middle Iron Age through to the Early Roman period is indicated by ceramic dates but is further supported by three radiocarbon dates which span between 151 cal BC to cal AD 113.
The features identified at Knights Hill appear to represent a small agricultural settlement or farmstead of moderate status which adds to the growing corpus of similar Late Iron Age to Roman sites in this part of Norfolk.