Summary of our findings
In March 2019 we were fortunate to dig two trenches just outside of the scheduled area within the mill field to investigate a linear earthwork which runs northwest to south-east immediately to the south of the main scheduled area. It is likely that this was a ditch to offer protection of the medieval village from flooding. The medieval pottery sherds we found were similar to those found in other parts of the field which show that the ditch and later bank are contemporaneous with occupation of the medieval village.
Samples of charred barley grain and a charred indeterminate cereal grain were sent for radiocarbon dating. Results suggests activity on the site from around the late 11th to early 15th century. It is not possible to say if this was continuous but evidence we have suggest that it is a distinct possibility
We found a small flint lithics assemblage; three had been worked including a utilised blade fragment and all are flint as opposed to chert. Little can be drawn from such a limited collection although we know that both Mesolithic to Early Neolithic blade-based technologies and later prehistoric flake-based technologies are present within the project area.
An important aspect of the pottery assemblage found during the course of our excavations is the very high proportion of Tees Valley wares. The presence of small quantities of other local wares, notably the Brandsby and Staxton/Potter-Brompton and York Glazed wares extends the range of types identified in the village but raises questions regarding the marketing and distribution of the various potteries and perhaps the local manufacture of Tees Valley type wares.
58 fragments of burnt clay presented for study, weighing 1252g with the majority of the material coming from trench 7. The likelihood that the material comes from a wattle and daub structure located there. We also found evidence of daub from a dome oven, with the finer wattles perhaps from the top of the dome
The ironworking debris recovered from the excavations mostly comprises smithing hearth bottoms and smithing slag lumps. The material is concentrated in Trenches 2 and 7. The slag is of medieval date. In Trench 2 the slag has been used as hardcore; suggesting that a smithy is quite close-by.