Medieval remains at Westhall Farm, Gayton, Norfolk: PXA

From the 1st of June to 2nd of July 2020 OA East carried out an open-area excavation on 0.15ha of land at Westhall Farm, Gayton (centred TF 7244 1917, Fig. 1). The work was commissioned by NPS Property Consultants on behalf of NCC Children’s Services in advance of the proposed development of a school. An initial archaeological desk-based assessment was carried out by NPS Archaeology (2018), followed by an earthworks survey (Hutton and Rees 2019) and a programme of trial trenching (Wallis 2019) both carried out by OA East.
The excavations at the site uncovered five phases of activity spanning the late Saxon to the late medieval period, with the majority of remains dated to the 12th-14th centuries. Evidence at the site indicates that the first agricultural activity took place during the late Saxon period with the establishment of field divisions which continued in use until the late medieval period. With time the activity at the site intensified, as evidenced by multiple re-establishments of the ditched boundaries. These remains of ditched enclosures might be evidence of activity related to West Hall Manor (NHER 3748), to the north-west of the site and, whilst they do not appear to have lain within an area of settlement, the finds suggest occupation in close proximity to the site.
This document forms a Post-Excavation Assessment Statement, relating to the final stage of archaeological investigations at the site. As outlined in Sections 6 and 7, below, it will be followed by a full programme of post-excavation analysis and the production of a detailed archive report.