Medieval ditches and pits at Blue Barn Farm, Clacton Road (EHER 80433)

Two medieval ditches and three undated ditches (probably also medieval) make up a 12th/13th to 14th century field system. A medieval ditch in Trench 3 of the evaluation may be the continuation of a nearby trackway cropmark. Undated pits, post holes and tree throws were also encountered.

April 2017. Trial trenching. Archaeological evaluation at Blue Barn Farm, Elmstead Market revealed two medieval ditches, three undated ditches (probably also medieval), three undated small pits/postholes, and two tree-throws containing residual medieval pottery. The results of the evaluation reveal a medieval agricultural landscape with five field boundary ditches within a field system of c 12th/13th – 14th century date. Ditch F2 may represent the continuation of the trackway cropmark into the development site, but given the distances involved between the edge of the cropmark and the site it is impossible to be absolutely certain. <1> December 2017. Phase 2 trial trenching. The only feature encountered by the second phase of evaluation was an undated pit (0.7m wide, 1.31m long by 0.32m deep) at the SW end of Trench 5. <2>