Essex

(1) Ardleigh, Land to the south-west, Hill Farm House, Bromley Road (TM 03376 26281): archaeological evaluation (three trial-trenches) was carried out in advance of the construction of a new residential development. The route of a Roman road, thought to have linked Mistley with Colchester, is projected to run through the southern part of the site, which also lies north-west of an area of ancient woodland, and south-east of the site of a former fulling mill dating back to at least the sixteenth century. No trace of the Roman road was found along its projected route. Two parallel ditches were uncovered in the northern half of the site, however, and it is possible that these represent the roadside ditches of this thoroughfare, although a lack of finds means this cannot be confirmed without further investigation.Footnote ⁸⁰

(2) Belchamp St Paul, Knowl Green, Baker’s Road (TL 7771 4323; BPCF23): evaluation trenching in August to October 2024 found evidence for settlement during the first century a.d. The remains were relatively sparse, consisting of possible enclosure ditches, a pit, a possible beam-slot and a row of post-holes, but were sufficiently concentrated to suggest a farmstead or other settlement in this location. The pottery from the features is of ‘Belgic’ type, dating to c. a.d. 20–80, so it appears that the farmstead was relatively short-lived. A regular arrangement of parallel, furrow-like features to the north and north-west of the possible farmstead were probably associated with arable cultivation.Footnote ⁸¹

(3) Chelmsford, Broomfield (TL 70406 11833): excavation revealed prehistoric to late Roman occupation to the west of Main Road, itself considered to have Roman origins. Roman features included enclosures, post-built structures, ovens, wells, pits, burials and a sunken featured building, with a peak of activity during the late Iron Age to Roman transition.

Remnants of a north-west–south-east aligned metalled surface indicate at least one offshoot of the Roman road, possibly originating as a series of trackways in the Iron Age. Beginning in the late Iron Age, the layout of the settlement gradually became more formalised and nucleated, and by the late Roman period evidence for occupation was densely clustered adjacent to the road in the east of the excavation area.

Findings of note included an extensive field system radiating west and south from the settlement core, a sunken featured building containing substantial evidence of Roman metal-working and a fragment of worked human bone, and a double burial containing a glass spindle whorl/large bead, with a domestic fowl placed by one of the individual’s hands (Fig. 25).Footnote ⁸²

Fig. 25.

Double burial containing a glass spindle whorl/large bead and with a domestic fowl placed by one of the individual’s hands, viewed from the north-west (© Oxford Archaeology).

(4) Clingoe Hill, Tendring Colchester Border Garden Community (TM 603964 224847) Phase 1, Fields 30, 36, 37, 69, 70 and 71: archaeological evaluation of Phase 1 of a proposed development of land east of Colchester was carried out in two stages, with a total of 277 targeted evaluation trenches. Iron Age pottery was found in two ditches and one tree bole in fields 30, 69 and 71. A ditch containing a large assemblage of pottery from the late Iron Age/early Roman transitional period (100 b.c.–a.d. 70) was found in the north third of fields 36/37. A ditch and a pit in fields 36/37 also contained late Iron Age/early Roman pottery, and an incomplete harness fitting of the period was found during metal-detecting. Ditches in field 70, one containing Iron Age pottery and one containing late Iron Age to early Roman pottery, and one undated ditch, matched aerial and HER survey evidence of a possible rectangular enclosure. Two ditches contained small, abraded sherds of Roman pottery in fields 36/37 and 69, and an illegible Roman copper-alloy sestertius (a.d. 43–260) was found during metal-detecting. Analysis is ongoing.Footnote ⁸³

(5) Colchester, 61 Endsleigh Court (TL 98178 25190): archaeological monitoring and recording was carried out during groundworks for the construction of a rear extension. The site is located on the edge of the Scheduled Monument at Sheepen and close to several known Roman kilns. Monitoring revealed a large assemblage of Roman pottery from a context that, within the confines of the foundation trench, proved difficult to interpret but could be a layer or large pit. The quantity of pottery, its fabric make-up and condition suggest that the assemblage consisted of waste material from nearby pottery-production sites.Footnote ⁸⁴

(6) Dengie, Dengie Solar Farm (TL 99103 00536): an archaeological evaluation prior to the development of 7.5 ha of land south of Keelings Road, Dengie, for use as a solar farm and substation. The evaluation comprised 56 trenches, within 17 of which ditches were observed. These ditches enclosed a roughly rectangular land parcel 13,925 m², the investigation of which produced finds dating from the Roman period.

Evidence of salt-working was identified on site by four fragments of Roman briquetage from Trenches 022 and 026, plus a further unstratified sherd. These briquetage fragments probably formed parts of large sub-rectangular vessels used in the production of salt. Little structural evidence was identified from the site, although pottery sherds, animal bone, marine shell and CBM are indicative of domestic activity, food preparation and salt production as well as potentially some building materials representative of high-status structures in the vicinity.Footnote ⁸⁵

(7) Elmstead, a) Land north of Beth Chatto’s Gardens, Elmstead Market (TM 06945 23978): an archaeological evaluation (44 trial-trenches) was carried out in advance of the construction of a new residential development. Previous excavations to the south-east of the site at Lanswood Park uncovered a large number of late Bronze Age or early Iron Age pits lying near a ring-ditch containing a cremation burial, which also probably dated to this period, as well as a late Iron Age/early Roman enclosure containing further cremation burials.

The primary phase of activity occurred from the late first into the third century, when a farmed estate stood at the site. A subsequent excavation to the north-east of the site, north of Clacton Road, similarly revealed evidence of late Bronze Age or early Iron Age activity, as well evidence of a pottery industry operating here during the early Roman period. Excavations at the present site revealed evidence of sporadic occupation at the site during the Neolithic and Bronze Age.

A further phase of activity occurred during the early Roman period, with evidence of occupation and of animal husbandry and crop processing. An urned Roman cremation burial may belong to this phase of activity. A droveway associated with the farmstead at Lanswood Park was further excavated, along with Roman ditches which might represent the remains of a field system located to the west of this settlement. Archaeology from other periods was also recorded.Footnote ⁸⁶

b) Elmstead, Land to the west of Clacton Road, Elmstead Market (TM 07284 23707): an archaeological evaluation (seven trial-trenches) was carried out in advance of the construction of a new residential development. Recent archaeological investigations surrounding the development site have revealed evidence for late Bronze Age/early Iron Age activity that included a ring-ditch, and a substantial Roman landscape with enclosures, at least four trackways or droveways, evidence for agricultural activity and possibly a pottery kiln.

The current evaluation revealed two ditches and two pits that produced pottery of early Roman and second-century date showing that features associated with the wider Roman agricultural landscape do continue. Archaeology from other periods was also recorded.Footnote ⁸⁷

(8) Great Chesterford, Land south of (TL 5094 4233; GCSE23): investigations just to the south of the Roman town at Great Chesterford, between May and July 2024, revealed remains of a farmstead established on the south bank of the River Cam in the late Iron Age and subsequently occupied until the second century a.d. One of the enclosures was repurposed as a small burial area, consisting of eleven cremation burials, two inhumations and a rare example of a funerary pyre. Evidence from the associated finds with the cremations suggests that the burial area was established in the late first century a.d. and remained in use until around the mid-second century.

Settlement-related activity on the site ceased following the disuse of the burial ground. The fields and enclosures that once defined the farm became mature hedgerows, which remained beyond the end of the Romano-British period. In the early fifth century a.d., a hoard of 2,616 late Roman coins was buried in the top of one of the infilled former field boundary ditches.

The fifth century also saw the establishment of an Anglo-Saxon settlement. This comprised ten sunken featured buildings, a post-built ‘hall’ and associated pits. This is the first substantial Anglo-Saxon settlement excavated in Great Chesterford, and there is good potential for relating it with the well-known Great Chesterford Anglo-Saxon cemetery, as well as with other local early Anglo-Saxon settlements and the remains of the Roman town at Great Chesterford.Footnote ⁸⁸

(9) Little Waltham, Blasford Hill (TL 70575 12183): a dense sequence of activity spanning the whole of the Roman period was recorded across the evaluated area, with identified features including ditched enclosures, quarry pits, metalled surfaces and post-holes. A possible north-west–south-east aligned road or trackway was also identified in the north-west of the site.

Evidence suggests that the site was occupied from around the time of the Roman Conquest, with the settlement gradually undergoing a process of formalisation and expansion during the second century a.d. The site was possibly abandoned during the later third or fourth century a.d.Footnote ⁸⁹

(10) Multi-parish, Layer-de-la-Haye to Langford Water Pipeline (TL 96604 19474 to TL 83366 08796): to the north-west of Heybridge, a Roman enclosure and associated settlement was uncovered. This included two post-built structures, a beam-slot structure and a densely layered area of intercutting pits and ditches, from which coins, other metal items, and a moderate assemblage of pottery and ceramic building material was recovered. Two further excavation areas that contained evidence of Romano-British land-use were located to the east and south-east of Layer Breton. Archaeology from other periods was also recorded.Footnote ⁹⁰

(11) Southminster, New Moor Farm (TL 96429 00021): during evaluation a Roman ‘ladder’ settlement was recorded across the centre of the investigated area, comprising a series of parallel and perpendicular ditches with several associated rectangular enclosures. The Roman pottery includes a small amount of imported Gaulish samian ware.Footnote ⁹¹

Norfolk

(1) Caistor St Edmund (Venta Icenorum), Brasted’s Caistor Hall Hotel (TG 2362 0359): excavations took place from mid-August 2024 within Trench 10, an enlarged evaluation trench from the previous summer (Fig. 26). This uncovered what appeared to include late Iron Age to early Roman period features just 150 m to the east of the second-century enclosure ditches of the Roman town of Venta Icenorum. This was a significant discovery, as to date evidence of pre-Roman invasion occupation in the area of the town has been relatively elusive.

Fig. 26.

Trench 10 under excavation, behind Caistor Hall Hotel, looking south-east (© Geoff Lunn/CRP).

An early Roman east–west boundary ditch was discovered with two neonatal burials inserted into its upper fill. This discovery adds to only a dozen or so adult individual burials uncovered in the surrounding area. One or two clusters of finds within the ditch-fill may represent structured deposition amongst charcoal laden deposits. These include several broken pottery vessels (one inverted), an iron knife with a lion-headed copper-alloy handle (Fig. 27), first- to second-century brooches, part of a red deer antler and a barley twisted blue-glass stirring rod. Parallel to the ditch along its southern side were two shallower ditch-gullies, which seem to be a much later reconfirmation of this same boundary.

Fig. 27.

Lion-headed knife (© Ian Jackson/CRP).

A series of large sub-circular Roman pits were identified and investigated. In total, eleven well-preserved pits were recorded which have provided a wide range of artefacts (including pottery, animal bone, tile, daub and various small finds) which will help to elucidate further on the date and nature of Roman occupation in their immediate vicinity. These pits respect the boundary ditches, and many contained organic stained fills and capping layers of various materials: redeposited clay, coarse gravel, large flint cobbles and fired-clay debris, demonstrating a very organised and meticulous approach to waste disposal.

A more trench-like pit on the northern edge of the boundary looks to have been backfilled prior to digging of the east–west ditch. This slightly shallower pit contained a particularly dark and charcoal-dense deposit, relatively rich in decorated Samian pottery sherds. A large number of soil samples were taken from these pit fills, which it is hoped will provide environmental and macrofossil evidence to understand better the source of the organic material and to assess for any evidence for latrine and dietary waste.

Overall the wide range of pottery vessels collected from the Trench 10 features, along with several fragmentary pieces of glassware, points to a group of people with relatively early access to these comparatively high-status materials.

Post-excavation processing of the finds assemblage is currently ongoing. However, the recovery of more late Iron Age pottery along with traces of a possible early military presence, represented by an iron lance and a small number of other metal items, is of particular interest. In addition, an unstratified metal-detector find may be an Imperial lead seal, perhaps depicting the late Roman Emperor Theodosius I flanked by his sons Arcadius and Honorius (Fig. 28). If so, it is an uncommon find in Britain and hints at some official connections at Venta in the late fourth century. Work in the area will continue in 2025.Footnote ⁹²

Fig. 28.

Imperial lead seal (© Ian Jackson/CRP).

(2) Chedgrave, Langley Road (TG 36065 00053): during excavation Romano-British features were uncovered including rectilinear enclosures and two post-built structures. Modest finds assemblages, mostly consisting of pottery, were recovered from these features. Four urned cremations were found deposited in Roman vessels, two of which were placed into the top of a Roman ditch. Archaeology from other periods was also recorded.Footnote ⁹³

(3) Harleston, Spirkett’s Lane (TM 2451 8281; ENF 155829): archaeological trial-trenching in March to April 2024 identified a curving length of ditch, possibly part of a roundhouse, which contained a small amount of early Roman (c. a.d. 50–150) pottery. Other, similar, Roman potsherds, probably products of the Waveney Valley and other local industries, were found in later features, suggesting peripheral activity on the site during the Roman period.Footnote ⁹⁴

(4) North Walsham, Land south-east of Norwich Road (TG 2825 2910; ENF 153419): evaluation in February to March 2024 identified a Roman ditch system. The paucity of finds from the ditches, the abraded condition of the associated transitional/early Roman (c. a.d. 40–120) greyware pottery, and the near-absence of pits characteristic of domestic occupation suggest that the ditch system was agricultural in function and demarcated fields or livestock enclosures. It is likely that the pottery sherds were disposed of in middens within a nearby farmstead and then spread across the fields during the process of manuring.Footnote ⁹⁵

(5) Snettisham, Land at Poppyfields Drive (TF 6788 3383): an archaeological excavation, followed by post-excavation analysis, on the site of a proposed residential development. The site was divided in two areas and covered an area of approximately 1.5 ha. The excavation revealed a number of Romano-British ditches, pits and modern walls. The main groups of features which can be identified appear to reflect different functional areas, related to the processing of agricultural produce (cereals and animals) as well as small-scale craft activities. The site at Poppyfields Drive represents a continuation of the Romano-British pottery production site identified at Strickland Avenue and Station Road directly to the south, with a continuation of the north–south trackway identified in these previous excavations.Footnote ⁹⁶ The quantity of pottery seconds and wasters found in these trackway ditches suggests deliberate discard of waste material which likely originated from the kilns at Strickland Avenue.Footnote ⁹⁷

Suffolk

(1) Bury St Edmunds, a) Abbots Vale (TL 86989 62293): excavation uncovered a small network of ditches spread across the site dating to the Roman period. In the south-east corner were the heavily truncated remains of a small kiln with an associated assemblage of wasters. In the same part of the site, a large post-built structure was uncovered, aligned with one of the Roman ditches. This has been tentatively interpreted as a possible barn.Footnote ⁹⁸

b) Bury St Edmunds, Land west of Newmarket Road (TL 8275 6467; BSE 674): evaluation trenching across this 24.9 ha site in February to March 2024 identified a system of Roman ditched enclosures and associated activity. Many of the enclosures probably performed an agricultural function, likely to corral livestock, but the relatively large assemblage of associated pottery suggests domestic occupation within several. No clear evidence was encountered for buildings. This activity mainly dated to the mid-first to third centuries a.d., with low-level continuity into the fourth or perhaps early fifth century.Footnote ⁹⁹

(2) Norton, Land west of Broad Road (TM 0612 6730): Church Field (TL/9666; NRN 068): archaeological training excavations were carried out by the UCL Institute of Archaeology on a previously identified 3 ha villa complex lying to the east of the Ixworth to Bildeston Roman road (Margary 330). Cropmarks and new magnetometer survey carried out in advance of the excavations show several structures set both inside and outside a trapezoid enclosure, formed on the northern and western sides by double ditches, 10.5 m apart, as well as possible tracks leading westwards to Margary 330 (Fig. 29).

Fig. 29.

Magnetometer survey of Church Field, Old Rectory and Front Field, Norton (© Kris Lockyear).

The enclosure extends beyond the cultivated field to the east to include an undefined amount of the Old Rectory, and widens to emphasise the southerly orientation of the complex. The north side of the enclosure was trenched in 2023, and the west side in 2024. The outer ditch is consistently larger and contains Roman building material, probably relating to the re-building or disuse of structures within the villa complex. The south side of the enclosure seems to be a single shallow ditch, first examined in 2023 at an entrance which included the burial of a complete horse, subsequently confirmed as Roman in date by radiocarbon dating (a.d. 90±30, Beta-698052). A second trench in 2024 to the west of the first confirmed the alignment of the ditch.

One building can be identified on the magnetometry within the enclosure: the large paired post-pits of a probable aisled structure c. 15 m long and 8 m wide, aligned ESE–WNW and with the north side of the enclosure and very close to the inner enclosure ditch. Immediately north-east of this a large pit (excavated in 2010–13) contained a substantial deposit of building material, including tesserae and painted plaster, and suggest that a villa-type building or bath-house lay to the east in an earlier phase.

Further features inside the western quadrant of the enclosure were investigated, including several isolated rubbish pits and post-holes and a large sub-rectangular pit/cellared structure towards the west side. The latter measures c. 7 m × 5 m and was excavated to a depth of 2 m, revealing a well shaft in its south-western corner. The pit contained a large quantity of backfilled Roman pottery, CBM, animal bone and metal and small finds; this deposit also sealed the well. As indicated elsewhere, this suggests there may be two principal phases of Roman occupation, with a restructuring of the site occurring at the end of the third/beginning of the fourth century.

Outside, to the west of the enclosure, was found the remains of a wooden pipe with iron collars, extending east–west for 10 m: probably to supply water to the site. To the south-west of this lay a corn-drier, into which had been inserted a neonate burial.

The UCL project also extended investigations to St Andrew’s Church and the Old Rectory, identifying medieval and post-medieval remains, and to the west of Church Field, recording Bronze Age pits and a scatter of finds, including Roman, medieval and post-medieval coins.Footnote ¹⁰⁰

(3) Stonham Aspal, Land south of The Street (TM 1400 5913; SAL 092): an archaeological excavation between August 2023 and February 2024 followed earlier evaluation of the site. The earliest occupation was represented by a roundhouse dating to the late Iron Age. This was followed by intensive occupation during the first and second centuries a.d., during which time the site underwent several phases of settlement activity characterised by roundhouses and associated ditched enclosures and cultivation channels. In the second to third centuries, this pattern of occupation and land-use continued, associated with large and fairly high-status pottery and metalwork assemblages. The occupation appears to have ended abruptly in c. the third century a.d., the inhabitants of the settlement possibly moving to a new site at the western end of the village, where a Roman bathhouse, presumably associated with a yet-to-be discovered villa, was investigated in the 1960s.

The site provides an interesting example of a fairly wealthy settlement that spanned the Roman Conquest period, potentially shedding light on modes of material acquisition and distribution in the countryside of early Roman East Anglia, as well as providing a point of comparison for those settlements that endured, without shifting location, into the late Roman period.Footnote ¹⁰¹