Hopper's Wood, Aykley Heads, Durham, County Durham
NZ 2726 4409; Kathryn Johnson and Gavin Glover; watching brief; August-September 2005; HOP 05
An archaeological watching brief was undertaken on land at Hopper's Wood, Aykley Heads on the north-western edge of Durham. The work was commissioned by Northumbrian Water and involved monitoring invasive groundworks associated with the installation of a new sewer run.
The site lies on the upper slopes of the Wear valley, an ideal location for exploitation by prehistoric hunter-gatherers. Several Mesolithic flint sites are known at similar geographical locations to the north, particularly around Finchale Priory. In addition, cropmarks in the region of Grange Wood, perhaps suggest that this area may also have been a focus for later prehistoric activity.
Varied natural sub-strata were exposed at relatively shallow depths throughout the monitored area. A clay-lined pit was recorded in the northernmost portion of the sewer route, although no dating evidence was recovered from it. Two linear features, which may have been the remains of drainage or land boundary ditches, were recorded in the south-eastern portion of the sewer route. Again, no artefactual material was recovered from either feature; the alignments of which indicate that they may pre-date the present field layout and hence may be of medieval or earlier origin.
Five artefacts were recovered from topsoil during the work: a fragment of struck flint of probable Mesolithic or early Neolithic date; two sherds of medieval pottery; a fragment of a glass bottle stamp (dated by its stamp to 1710); a clay tobacco pipe bowl of late post-medieval date. None of this material can be attributed to archaeological features recorded during the work.
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