Dinnington, Fox Covert, monastic grange, well

HER Number:
13285

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Dinnington, Fox Covert, monastic grange, well

Place:
Dinnington

Map Sheet:
NZ17SE

Class:
Water Supply and Drainage

Site Type: Broad:
Water Storage Site

Site Type: Specific:
Well

General Period:
Medieval

Specific Period:
C13

Form of Evidence:
Structure

Description:
A stone-lined well of exceptional quality. It was 7.8m deep and 0.75m wide. The lowest 2m had been excavated through bedrock. It had a rounded base. The stone lining was made of dressed stones. Four dressed blocks of the stone well-head were located at the base, suggesting demolition or destruction, and a near complete Buff White jug of likely late 13th century date, broken into many pieces. The fill was waterlogged from a depth of 3.80m. A finely dressed stone that would have formed the top course of the wellhead was recovered from a nearby ditch. The fill at the top of the well shaft contained clay pipe and brick. A complete cattle metatarsal was found in the well - estimated withers height of 1.12m, which is within the usual range for medieval cattle. A new born puppy was represented by bones recovered by hand and from sampling. Partial skeletons of juvenile domestic fowl and fragments of eggshell.

Easting:
1973

Northing:
7476

Grid Reference:
NZ19737476

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Gary Brogan and Steve Speak, 2006, Fox Covert, Archaeology in Northumberland, Northumberland County Council/Northumberland National Park, Vol. 16, page 12; Timescape Surveys, May 2002, A Geophysical Survey at Fox Covert, Dinnington, Newcastle upon Tyne; Timescape Surveys, September 2002 Phase 2, A Geophysical Survey at Fox Covert, Dinnington, Newcastle upon Tyne; Warren Muncaster, Tyne and Wear Museums, September 2007, Archive Report, Fox Covert OCCS, Dinnington, Tyne and Wear - Archaeological Excavation