Trial trenching by MoLAS at land at Rayne Road, Braintree, 2015 - EEX58965

NRHE data transfer: MOLA Northampton was commissioned by Manor Oak Homes to carry out archaeological trial trenching and geoarchaeological assessment on a proposed development site at Rayne Road, Braintree, Essex. Prehistoric activity consisted of a posthole containing Bronze Age to Iron Age pottery. Evidence for a Roman presence was very tenuous, amounting to only two stray fragments of Roman roof tile. There was more substantive evidence for medieval activity, represented by a cluster of ditches and pits containing pottery of broadly 11th to 13th century date. Elsewhere on the site a sparse distribution of undated ditches and pits was observed. The geoarchaeological investigation identified generally thin and insubstantial layers of Pleistocene sediment overlying the London Clay, with one deeper pocket of head on the upslope part of the site. An area of made-ground was also identified in the south-west of the site.