Test Pit 28

Test Pit 28. Cosy Cot, Heckfield Green

Property description and location

Cosy Cot is a Grade II listed building (NHLE No. 1032515), dating to the 17th century, which has recently been extended to the rear. The property is clearly shown on the Tithe map (named in the apportionment as 'Cottage and Garden' owned by James Clubbe) which shows a boundary with an arable field (named 'Pightle' and also owned by James Clubbe) immediately to the rear of the building. Heckfield Green is likely to have extended along Chickering Road in front of Heckfield House, The Retreat (formerly The Royal Oak PH) and possibly as far as Cosy Cot although, at c.25m from the road, the property is still likely to have been set back slightly from the Green edge.

Test Pit description

The pit was placed 1.2m north of the property in an area of flat lawn. A 0.15m thick layer of topsoil with frequent charcoal, Context 1, overlaid an apparent feature which cut through a layer of light/mid brown clay/silt (Context 4) in the south-eastern half of the pit. The primary fill of the feature, Context 3, was a dark brown clay/silt with frequent charcoal, slumping down the sides.. Above this the final fill of the feature, Context 2, was a mid/dark brown clay/silt with occasional charcoal. The test pit was halted at 0.5m depth, the base of neither Context 4 or the feature and its fills being seen.

Test Pit finds summary

Fragments of GRE are the earliest pottery from the pit, dating to the 16th-18th centuries, but they were found with Victorian and twentieth century ceramics. A brick, probably a floorbrick was present.

Test Pit Discussion

The test pit likely lies in the vicinity of the rear boundary shown on the Tithe map, or in the adjoining field, and the post-medieval feature may be associated with it. The finds material all relates to the domestic occupation of the property, with the frequent quantities of charcoal probably demonstrating how the waste ashes from the buildings hearths were dumped immediately outside, straight into a yard or garden.