Roman ditches, Montana Nursery (EHER 17832)

Excavations in advance of the construction of the Clacton - Weeley bypass located ditches of Romano British origin, which may have been part of a cropmark enclosure.

Excavations, 1993 Excavation at Montana Nursery recovered a sequence of straight sided ditches of early Roman date. The most substantial of these was 17.5m long and ran east-west on an axis parallel to that of the excavation area. At the western edge of this ditch a branch ran north beyond the limit of excavation, forming the southwestern corner of a possible enclosure, this produced pottery broadly datable to the period 'early Roman', perhaps mid to late 1st century. A possible recut of this ditch produced part of a grog-tempered LIA-Early Roman jar, a high shouldered jar rim of early-mid 1st century AD date and late 1st to early 2nd century in its upper fill. Other features of this date included a pit, post hole and part of a possible surface layer. Ground work by Anglian Water approximately 20m to the west of the main excavation area uncovered three pits, two post holes and a truncated layer, most of Early Roman date, with the exception of a large dumbbell-shaped pit which produced late 4 th century AD pottery. <1> <2>