Test pitting by Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge in Thorrington, 2006-2007 - EEX60922

Two, two-day test pit excavations were undertaken in the village of Thorrington in southeast Essex between July 2006 and May 2007. In that time, 56 school pupils from nine local secondary schools excavated 18 1m2 archaeological test pits as part of the Higher Education Field Academy (HEFA) programme run by Access Cambridge Archaeology (ACA) out of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge. The test pitting in Thorrington revealed a range of activity dating from the later prehistoric period through to the modern day, both supporting what has already been found through the parish as well as providing new archaeological evidence. The nature of the test pits allows excavations in otherwise inaccessible places for the normal methods of commercial archaeological investigation, and it showed that some earlier phases of occupation and activity in Thorrington still exist under the present settlement, despite modern developments. Evidence for later prehistoric and Romano-British activity was limited in Thorrington, but the excavations did show more extensive land use at these times, likely as a continuation inland from the extensive Iron Age and Roman occupation identified along the coast and at Colchester. No Anglo-Saxon activity was identified but a dispersed medieval settlement was recorded, as a series of probable farmsteads scattered through the landscape, interspersed with areas of heathland and woodland. The village remained small through the post medieval.