Nineteenth century ditches at Middlewick Wind Farm, Southminster (EHER 47152)

Two 19th century ditches were noted next to the site of the windmill HER 2798. These correspond to linear cropmarks identified in an earlier desk-based assessment, confirmed on early edition OS maps.

October-November 2008. Desk-based assessment and walkover survey. Cropmarks are particularly prevalent to the South of Turbine 9. These are most likely the result of activity on the site of New Shrill farm. A linear field boundary is also visible running between Turbines 8 and 9. This is likely to relate to the track/field boundary marked on early edition OS maps as running between Old and New Shrill farms. <1> August 2008. Trial trenching. During the evaluation two 19th century ditches were recorded close to the site of the windmill (EHER 2798). The first ditch ran E-W across the trench and was approximately 1.5m in width. The fill of the ditch contained nineteenth century ceramics. Later oxidation of the trench section showed a further ditch located above this one. This additional ditch also showed as a faint linear cropmark and ran on the same alignment as the earlier ditch. <2> See aerial photograph <3>.