Prehistoric activity at Turpin's Farm, Walton Road, Frinton-on-Sea (EHER 80464)

Archaeological evaluation uncovered prehistoric features which were clustered together in several foci across the site, indicating that the area witnessed at least sporadic human activity over some period of time. Features and finds date from Mesolithic flint finds to a early Roman pit.

Evaluation, 2022 Approximately 156 features were uncovered during the course of this evaluation, activity was split over two phases; Prehistoric (detailed here) and Roman. The prehistoric features were focused along the southern edge of the site, at the centre of the site, and also at the centre of the site. The earliest evidence of activity on the site came in the form of a number of worked flints which dated from the Mesolithic until the Bronze Age. One of these worked flints was recovered from a later context and it is likely the others were also residual. The earliest datable features uncovered had their origins in the Bronze Age. A large Bronze Age pit or ditch, F64, was uncovered in trench 73 and a small Middle Bronze Age pit, F6, lay in trench 85, along the southern edge of the site. A further Middle Bronze Age pit, F56, was excavated in trench 41, at the centre of the site. A second phase of prehistoric activity occurred at the site during the Iron Age. Middle Iron Age pit F142 was uncovered in trench 3, in the northwest corner of the site, while a ditch of Middle Iron Age date, F72, lay in trench 51, at the centre of the evaluated area. Two features dating to the Late Iron Age were also excavated, pit F62, in trench41 at the centre of the site, and ditch F35, in T77 in the southeast corner of the site. A further feature, pit F96 in trench 43, in the centre of the evaluated area, dated to the Late Iron Age or early Roman period. A number of features could only be broadly dated to the prehistoric period more broadly. Other remains produced no dating evidence but were likely also of prehistoric. Of particular note in this respect was the possible oven foundation in trench 63, in the southern half of the site, which was surrounded by a series of associated postholes. These prehistoric features were clustered together in several foci across the site, indicating that these areas witnessed at least sporadic human activity over some period of time. <1>