Monument record MDR13136 - Two pits, Noel Baker School, Bracknell Drive, Derby

Twelve trial trenches were excavated on land to the south of the Noel Baker Community School and College in 2011. Two pits were uncovered in two of the trenches. A small pit c. 0.7m in diameter at the western end of trench 3 was half-sectioned and shown to be 0.5m deep and filled with a charcoal rich clay and large amounts of fire-cracked stones. The natural gravelly clay at the base of the pit was heat affected, indicating that the pit was actively used in a heating process, rather than simply used for the disposal of old fire waste. Alder charcoal found within the fill was submitted for radio-carbon dating and returned a date of 2290-2040 BC. This dates the primary use of the pit to the early Bronze Age. In trench 5 another similar small pit was identified, although it was substantially shallower, at 0.1m deep. It also contained a number of fire-cracked stones and a charcoal rich clay fill. Although this pit could not be dated, it is probably also early Bronze Age. The fire-cracked stones are likely to have been heated for use as 'pot boilers', being dropped into water in order to heat it for use. (1)