Roman and medieval pits, and post-medieval field boundary at the former Martello Caravan Park, Kirby Road (EHER 80460)

Sparse evidence for Roman and medieval activity was identified by both an evaluation and an excavation as small pits which yielded pottery from both periods. A post-medieval field boundary was also revealed by trial trenching and produced pottery stamped LLC which almost certainly relates to the use of the land by the London County Council as a campsite either side of the Second World War.

2015. Trial trenching. Evaluation revealed a medieval remains consisting of a single probable pit in Trench 2 which produced three sherds of 13th to 14th century pottery. The pottery recovered from the top of the pit was very abraded and therefore there is a possibility that it is residual material in a feature of post-medieval date. Either way, the rural location of the feature suggests it too is associated with agricultural activity. The post-medieval NE-SW aligned field boundary ditch identified passing through Trenches 4, 5 and 6 is depicted on late 19th and early 20th century editions of Ordnance Survey mapping. Pottery stamped LCC, recovered from the backfill of this ditch where excavated in Trench 4, almost certainly belonged to London County Council which used the area as a campsite either side of the Second World War. <1> March 2016. Archaeological excavation. Excavation also identified a small amount of evidence for a Roman and a medieval phase of activity at the site, both of which can probably be characterised as agricultural activity on the periphery of a settlement. Two small sherds of Roman pottery were recovered from two pits/irregular features with a third, probably intrusive, sherd from a prehistoric L-shaped ditch, and which may have been the result of a manure scatter from activity probably on the Red Hills identified 1100m to the NNW. Five pits/irregular features yielded medieval pottery and appear to date from the late 12th/13th to the 14th century. <2>