Bronze Age features and medieval ditches, gullies and pits at Earls Hall Farm Wind Farm, St Osyth (EHER 80477)

Archaeological features were present in Trenches 3 and 5, both of which were located within the northern part of the study area. A Bronze Age pit and an ENE-WSW aligned ditch were present in Trench 3 and both produced a small quantity of Bronze Age pottery. Several medieval ditches, gullies and pits in Trench 5 probably relate to industrial activity in this period.

September 2006. Trial trenching. Archaeological features were present in Trenches 3 and 5, both of which were located within the northern part of the study area. A Bronze Age pit and an ENE-WSW aligned ditch were present in Trench 3 and both produced a small quantity of Bronze Age pottery. The greater part of the archaeological resource was identified within Trench 5, which revealed a complex of Medieval ditches, gullies and pits the majority of which were clearly associated with each other. Several of these features yielded an assemblage of pottery and other artefactual evidence. The majority of fills also contained quantities of charcoal, which may be associated with an industrial activity, rather than domestic settlement, particularly as no ecofactual material was recovered from this trench. Pottery recovered from the features in Trench 5 demonstrates that the earliest activity dates to the 11th-12th century, with later features of 12th-14th century date; indicating a relatively long-lived period of use. <1>