Mill Green, Hertfordshire
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2005
Mill Green is today a small hamlet, lying at c. 60m OD either side of the river Lea c. 3km north-east of Hatfield in Hertfordshire. Mill Green has no church, and its only claim to medieval antecedence comes from the presence of the eponymous mill, now a museum. Most of the surviving fabric of this structure is 18th century, although some 16th century timberwork is visible inside the building (Kirby, 1990). No earlier fabric is known, but the present building is generally considered to occupy the site of a medieval mill, one of four held by the abbot of Ely at Hatfield in Domesday Book. The extent of any medieval occupation was completely unknown before the HEFA investigation over the last two days of November 2005.
Local Information Websites
Undeterred by the frosty starts to each day, nine test pits were excavated by HEFA participants. The contrast with the other HEFA sites was extreme: no pre-medieval material was recovered from any of the test pits, and only one produced any finds dating to any time within the medieval period. This comprised a single sherd of London Ware (AD1150-late C15th) which was found in the top layer of TP2, a mixed context which also yielded material of post-medieval and Victorian and later date: given this, it is impossible to exclude the possibility that this sherd was brought onto this site in the relatively recent past. Even if the London Ware sherd does indeed come from the location in which it was found, it is notable that TP 05/2 is the furthest of all the 2005 test pits from the mill site itself. None of the other test pits produced any material earlier than c. 1550, a date which does of course correlate well with that of the earliest known surviving fabric of the mill building. This does not, of course, completely exclude the possibility that a mill and/or associated settlement existed here in the Middle Ages, but it must cast doubt on that assertion. However, two of the test pits did not go very deep (05/6 was inadvertently sited on top of a late Victorian/early-20th century rubbish pit, which provided a wonderful range of finds for the students, but prevented excavation to any significant depth, while 05/9 was started late in the course of the HEFA after the 05/8 team encountered natural. The possibility that excavation of further test pits might reveal more secure evidence for medieval occupation in the area can not be excluded.
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Pottery Report |
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Test Pit Location Map |
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