Undated cut feature, Wildacre, Lee Wick Lane, St Osyth (EHER 47186)

One shallow cut-feature with no obvious function

Archaeological trial trenching, 2009 The footprint of a proposed replacement house for an existing bungalow at Wildacre, Lee Wick Lane, St Osyth was archaeologically trial-trenched. The footprint spanned an existing garden and paddock and was crossed by a wooden fence. The trenching was carried out within the area to the south of the fence as the area immediately north of it had been previously stripped and truncated during the construction of the existing bungalow. Lee Wick farmhouse is a grade II listed building dating to the 16th century. A Roman red hill (salt extraction site) was partially investigated by W. Cole in the vicinity of the farmhouse in 1903 (Fawn et al. 1990, site 46; EHER 7395). The exact location of the red hill is not known, although Cole’s notes suggest that it lies within a former area of orchards north-west of Lee Wick farmhouse. The site was evaluated by two trenches. The trenches revealed a shallow cut-feature and two deposits of natural clay. There were no finds and the function of the cut feature was not evident. Cole’s red hill probably lies in the area of the former orchards to the north-west, as his notes describe. The site of the former orchards is an ideal spot for a red hill as it lies below the 5m contour line and would have been situated on the edge of the tidal plain of St Osyth Marsh during antiquity. <1>