Post-medieval field boundaries and backfilled pond at land South of Weeley Road, Great Bentley (EHER 80415)

Post-medieval to modern field boundaries, ditches, a backfilled pond and a small undated pit were identified in nine evaluation trenches, dispersed across the site. 19th/20th-century land drains were noted, although generally not excavated, in many of the evaluation trenches.

February 2022. Geophysical survey. The magnetometer survey did not record any magnetic responses that could be interpreted as being of definite archaeological interest. Former field boundaries, modern ploughing and land drains were also detected in the dataset. <1> July 2022. Trial trenching. Post-medieval to modern field boundaries, ditches, a backfilled pond and a small undated pit were identified in nine evaluation trenches, dispersed across the site. 19th/20th-century land drains were noted, although generally not excavated, in many of the evaluation trenches. Ditch segments recorded in Trenches 3, 14, 15, 28, 32, 33, 37 and 45 corresponded to field boundaries shown on the Great Bentley tithe map, indicating that they formed part of a field system dated from at least the 1830s. Map evidence demonstrates that most of the ditches remained in use until at least the late 1950s. The 1838 Tithe Apportionment indicates that two fields in the centre of the site (641 Great Quag and 642 Little Quag) were then used as pasture, while the remaining fields were arable. The name Quag indicates that these fields were prone to waterlogging, which presumably accounts for the presence of a pond at the Eastern junction of those two fields. The pond was evidently infilled relatively recently. A small pit in Trench 37, adjacent to a post-medieval ditch, is assumed to have been a broadly contemporary feature: certainly, its charcoal-rich fill was similar to that of the ditch. <2>