ENN111156 - Wakerley Quarry, Area A, 2020-1 (Excavation)

A programme of archaeological mitigation works were undertaken across a part of a recently permitted quarry at Wakerley. The Site covered an area of c. 5.4 ha. The works primarily encountered evidence of Saxon period metalworking including a significant number of ore roasting pits and smelting furnaces, albeit generally poorly preserved, as well as contemporary ditched boundaries and additional discrete features. In addition, a few discrete pits of Early Roman date were encountered, suggesting that a Roman activity area perhaps lay somewhere beyond the northern edge of excavation. With the exception of plough furrows, indicating former ridge and furrow cultivation, no evidence of activity post-dating the Anglo-Saxon period was encountered.