Post-medieval ditch and drain at land at the former Three Suns Nursery Wycke Hill, Maldon (EHER 48752)

Trenching revealed a number of ditches of post-medieval date, and a horse-boned lined drain.

June 2015. Trial trenching. A total of seven 50m and five 25m trial trenches were excavated and recorded. Two shallow ditches in Trenches 2 and 11 may represent the truncated remains of a prior field system or drainage ditches leading water towards Lime Brook to the south. The small, shallow pit in Trench 2 was very isolated and contained no artefacts or ecofacts. The ditch recorded in Trench 9 contained a very dark fill and corresponds with a field boundary present on the 1838 Tithe Map. The large pit which was encountered in both Trenches 3 and 4 contained several fragments of glass and pottery and rusted fragments of iron. The size of this feature would indicate a quarry pit, excavated for the extraction of the sand and gravels present in this part of the site. The horse-bone lined drain was an unusual feature and although no dating material was found it was considered on site to be post-medieval in date, its northwest-southeast alignment differs from the other ditches and modern land drains used to control water towards the brook. <1>