Roman settlement, 39-45 Crescent Road, Heybridge (EHER 47131)

Trial trenching in 2001 recovered Roman pottery, brick and tile and recorded a large ditch. Subsequent archaeological excavation in 2002 recorded three phases of Roman occupation. Evidence was found for Early Roman land division in the form of parallel drainage gullies on either side of the excavated area and which were interpreted to be the remains of the rear of a series of road-fronting plots which can be postulated somewhere to the north of the excavated area. It is possible that these boundaries were established in the Late Iron Age. Contemporary with these plots was an Early Roman cremation burial with a cremation vessel and three accessory vessels. The excavation recorded evidence for further land division in the Mid Roman period which changed the layout of the strip plots. A series of large pits in the north of the site were interpreted as probable gravel extraction pits which may be associated with the metalling of road surfaces at Elms Farm (EHER 17445). Several features in the south of the site yielded Roman window glass, brick and tile, suggesting the presence of an Early-Mid Roman building to the south or east of the site. Lastly, the excavation recorded a third phase of landscape reorganisation in the Late Roman period. This phase of activity also included a timber-lined well which yielded the remains of leather shoes, and a tile-line 'corn-drier'. This period was perhaps associated with an intensification of agricultural practice and the close juxtaposition of these features suggests that they were functionally connected, perhaps in an activity such as malting.

June-July 2001. Trial trenching. Surface finds include Roman pottery and Roman brick and tile. A large ditch feature present in the south of Trenches 2 and 4 and the north of Trench 1 may be a continuation of the late Roman wood lined ditch excavated during the Elms Farm Excavation in 1994-1995 (EHER 17445). <1> August-October 2002. Archaeological excavation. Early Roman (1st and 2nd century AD). There were relatively few features with material of Early Roman date on the site, compared with the number of features with later Roman material. Evidence was found for Early Roman land division in the form of parallel drainage gullies on either side of the excavated area, which defined a narrow strip plot that ran south, probably to the edges of the gravel terrace or perhaps to the palaeochannel. A road frontage can therefore be postulated somewhere to the north. It is possible that these boundaries were established in the Late Iron Age (EHER 81894), which would agree well with the Elms Farm evidence (EHER 17445), where similar strip plots were identified. The few other Early Roman features suggest light activity at the back (south) of the plot. Of particular interest was a subcircular cremation pit, with a diameter of around 0.5m, in the north-west of the site, which contained a cremation vessel and three accessory vessels dated to the mid 2nd century. The 2nd century cremation burial is not out of place; in plots at Elms Farm (EHER 17445) occasional cremation burials occupy such liminal 'backland' locations. There were a also a few further pits and post holes containing Early Roman material, notably in the south of the site. Mid Roman (Late 2nd/3rd century AD). In the Mid Roman period there was little evidence for intensive activity on the site, which parallels the contemporary situation at Elms Farm (EHER 17445), where beyond the centre of settlement only agricultural activity took place. However, there is further evidence of land division, with a change in the layout of the strip plots represented by the ditch that cuts across the north-west corner of the site. There were several further features containing material from the Mid Roman period, most notably a number of large pits concentrated to the north of the site, which were probable gravel extraction features. These were possibly associated with the metalling of road surfaces of the kind excavated at Elms Farm (EHER 17445). There was similar evidence of gravel extraction at Drury's excavations just to the east (EHER 81896). In the northeast of the site a pit of unknown function contained mid 2nd and early 3rd century material. The fill of this pit had apparently been recut by a further flask-shaped cut that resembled, on a smaller scale, the shape of a 'corn-drier' or malting oven to the immediate north (see below), and contained a solid clay fill. It is possible that this clay represented the base of a structure. Numerous features produced evidence of Roman window glass, and there was also an abundance of brick and tile, notably in the south of the site. A large amount of brick, tile and stone of types possibly used as coarse building material, including septaria, was recovered from a Late Roman pit or possible robber cut in the southeast. This evidence suggests the existence of a substantial Roman building in the vicinity, perhaps to the south or east of the site, in the Early to Mid Roman period. The window glass fragments were commonly recovered from features containing Mid to Late Roman material, including the well cut noted below. Late Roman (Late 3rd/4th century AD onwards). Further landscape change occurred in the Late Roman period, marked by the major east-west ditch running across the site. It was around 5m wide and 0.9m deep and must have been an important, clearly visible, boundary in the contemporary landscape. This demarcated the southern limit of the well-drained gravels cultivated to the north of the Roman settlement and may have formed part of the system of land management evidenced by the timber-lined ditch identified in Area R of the Elms Farm excavation (EHER X). However, it is unlikely that they represent the same feature. The north-south ditches that run off this major boundary may represent drainage into the watercourse to the south. Various large pits were filled with Late Roman material. Two large pits may have been gravel extraction features, perhaps associated with the surfacing of tracks elsewhere. In the east of the site there was a timber-lined well, in a large, fairly crude clay-lined construction cut, which was around 2m deep, and measured around 4m north-south by 4m east-west. The wooden shaft of the well was around 1m square, constructed of simple dovetail-jointed planks. Only the lower part of this structure remained, with a surviving depth of 0.7m of timber planking. Much organic material and timber debris, including two finely worked fragments which may have derived from the well structure, survived in the waterlogged peaty fill at the base of the well, and in the backfill deposits above this. The backfill also contained fragmentary leather artefacts tentatively identified as parts of one or more shoes, and pottery dating from the late 3rd to late 4th century AD. While this suggested a Late Roman date for the abandonment of the structure, it is possible that it was constructed in earlier Roman times. The tile-lined 'corn-drier', located in the north-east of the site, may date to this period, as such features were common at this time. This 'corn-drier' lay in a large north-south oriented cut, which was 4.2m long and 2.0m wide. Only the base of the 'corn-drier' survived, infilled with a dark greyish brown silty sand. This period was perhaps associated with an intensification of agricultural practice, evidenced by the corn-drier and the timber-lined well. The close juxtaposition of these features suggests that they were functionally connected, perhaps in an activity such as malting. However, the well, filled with utilitarian rubbish, could equally denote nearby domestic occupation. The corn-drier is reminiscent of similar features identified at Elms Farm, at key access points in the immediate agricultural hinterland of the Late Roman settlement in Area W (EHER 17445). <1> Note: The material described in this record may be associated with the settlement at Elms Farm, see EHER 17445.