Medieval to post medieval field ditches and trackway and medieval finds, Wick Farm, Ardleigh (EHER 45457)

Medieval finds were found during fieldwalking, later excavation revealed probable medieval/postmedieval field ditches and trackway.

Medieval to late medieval pottery was collected during fieldwalking. <1> Trial trenching in 2007 uncovered largely Iron Age settlement but also some possible medieval/postmedieval field ditches with a small amount of medieval pottery. The remains of a ditched trackway which was probably in use during the 13th to 19th century ran north-south and probably linked Crown lane with Wick lane to the south and north.<2> Excavation in 2008: The medieval and later remains included boundary ditches, gullies and pits in both sites C and D (north), probably related to medieval and post-medieval forerunners of Wick Farm, and a moated enclosure to the south of the modern farm is thought to have been the site of the original farmstead. A boundary ditch in site D (north) was long-lived, originally dating from the late 12th to early 13th centuries, suggesting a medieval origin to the existing pattern of land division. In site C, medieval and post-medieval ditches and pits lay along the edge of the marginal land in the valley floor, and the post-medieval gullies which lay in the valley floor itself are interpreted as pens for livestock, possibly for watering animals at the nearby spring. Monitoring of Quarry Stage 1D near Chilver’s Cottages at the south-eastern limit of the site dated two small cropmark enclosures to the post-medieval period. <3>