Untitled - Council for British Archaeology

51
Building 4
Traces of a timber building 4m x 8m, aligned
The evidence of contemporary finds,
mainly St. Neots' type pottery and some Stamford
Ware, confirms that these buildings and
Ditchas 1 to 9 are all roughly contemporary.
The small number of rubbish pits is.explained
by an accumulation of dark silty soil
around.each building, particularly Building 3,
where it was up to 35cm. thick. These silts
represented long accumulations of domestic
refuse and contained much pottery and bone.
PHASE II - C13-15 (Fig 13)
Four stone buildings and a limekiln were
erected and enclosed within a rectangular
moat 5m wide, enclosing an area 115m x 50m,
aligned N.-S.
The projection at the S.W. corner may be
original, but io probably the product of landscape
gardening; an estate map of 1792 shows
the S. arm of the moat as a large pond, 27m
wide.
The N. arm of the moat turns N. 40m from
the N.W. corner and runs N. for 50m to a
bulbous end. .The N.E. corner was not located
by Trench 5 nor seen when the site was levelled.
If it existed it must have been des -
-troyed by quarrying.
Building 1
This was in the S.E. corner of the excavated
area, S. of the site of the Phase I,
Building 1. The limestone building was 22m
long, and divided by a cross wall. The exter
nal walls were lm thick and the cross wall
1.4m. The W. room was 4.2m x 8.7m; a doorway
in the S. wal1,2.5m from the S.W. corner,
was 2.2m wide. Post holes inside the door
suggest an internal screen. A hearth, with
2 post holes 1.5m apart, was situated to the
E. of the centre. A garderobe, 1.2m x 2m,
projected west from the S.W. corner. The E.
room was 11.7m long and of uncertain width,
the S. wall having been removed by the later
reconstruction of the moat. In tin W. half
of this building was found a complote Penn
floor tile, and part of another was found in
a pit full of destruction material outside
the N. wall.
Pottery was of Cl3th'- Cl4th and included
Brill and N.W. French imports, in addition to
local wares. Other finds included a bone
chessman, a Henry III short cross penny of
1216.30, and part of.a Purbeck mortar. Worked
stone found in the destruction levels suggest
that this was a substantial building of some
quality.
Building 2
This was on the saine alignment and replaced
the Phase I timber building 4. Robber trenches
lm wide survived on the N.,W.and partly on
the S. and E. sick.% The plan of the building
was, however, clear from the.junction of the
clay floors and stone yard surfaces.
This building was an aisled barn, 19m x
Eight stone post settings show that it was
divided into three bays with half bays at
either end.
Building 3
To the S. of the barn there was a probable
circular dovecote. The internal diameter was
6m and the walls were 1.5m thick. Two capped
stone drains ran from the W. side of this
building.
Building 4
Another possible dovecote lay to the W.
of Building 3, the internal dia, was again
6m, but the walls were only 1.2m thick.
The Limekiln
This was 2m W. of Building 1, constructed
in a pit 3m in dia, and lm deep. Natural
cornbrash formed the bottom and lower parts
of the walls, which were'lined'with larger
stone towards the top. There werd two stoke
holes, to the N., and to the S.E., the former
retaining a well-preserved cross lintel flue
arch.
All of the buildings located on the site
were of dry construction, suggesting that
lime was woduce for agricultural purposes
only.
PHASE III - C16-19 (Fig 14)
The moated enclosure was reduced in size
to 49m x 55m by the excavation of a tRW N.
side to the S. of Building 1 (Phase II). The