Stonepits Plantation

Name of Researcher Jon Wilson-Bright

Date of Survey Jan – Feb 2015

Can you see any of the features listed below? If so, please count or estimate the number of each feature and record approximate dimensions
Feature type	Present	Number	Maximum length	Maximum width	Maximum depth/height
Pits	Y	100+	8-10m	10m	1.75m
Depressions or hollows	Y	50+	Gullies 15+m	4m	1.5m
Spoilbanks	Y	7	5m	1.5m	4.5m
Spoilheaps	Y	10	1.2m	0.75m	0.7m
Trackways	Y	4+ short sections	70m	2.5m	0.25m
Worked flints	N
Discarded flints	Y	1000	0.2m	0.2m
Other features (please provide details, if possible)

Mapping

Open Space Web-Map builder Code

Access

Were you able to access all obvious areas of flint mining?

If not, please mark on the map the areas you were not able to access.

Yes

Photography

Overall condition of the Site

(circle one, from A = excellent to F = poor)

Land use (circle as many as appropriate)

Forestry Plantation

Any additional observations or comments

HER report largely accurate but does overlook a small group of pits and gullies to the west between Oval Plantation an B1107.

Main site is extensively overgrown by ash, lime and chestnut stools. Many years of leaf-fall with growth of moss heather and grass have covered the site, softening the features. The secondary site lies under Forestry Plantation. On the OS 1^st series a bank is shown around the group (as Stonepits Pltn). I couldn’t find any trace during my survey.

The features at this site differ from the horseshoe pits found on Lingheath. At ‘Stonepits’ the pits are shallow, wide and very closely adjacent. Gullies are commonplace; perhaps the flint was close to the surface and was won by quarrying, which seems to have occurred haphazardly.

A low ridge crosses the area E- W.

Tracks are difficult to identify, sections are shorrt and interrupted by earthworks. The ride along the west side of STN032 cuts through the ridge and may be contemporary with the workings. Another short section of track to the east also forms a shallow ‘hollow way’ as it crosses the ridge and may align with a section to the north, possibly a remnant of the track crossing N’S marked on the OS 1^st series.

The bank along the north and east sides of Stonepit Plantation shown in the 1^st series map is still present but eroded. It demarcates the extent of works in the sector, in the main.