Late Iron Age to Roman activity at Water Lane, Steeple Bumpstead (EHER 80490)

Late Iron Age to early Roman features and finds were discovered as part of an excavation in 2020. These included a trackside ditch or boundary which was a long lived feature, being recut a number of times during the Roman and post-Roman periods. Located on either side of this boundary were early to late Roman enclosures, and finds.

2020. Excavation. Features dating from the late Iron Age to early Roman periods comprise of ditches aligned north-west to south-east, including the first iterations of a long-lived major boundary or a possible trackside ditch. Also uncovered were a scatter of pits and possible postholes. The ditches presumably delineated small fields or paddocks adjacent to Bumpstead Brook (and a possible crossing point) or perhaps a track predating the current road, Water Lane. The later Roman phase of activity on the site was characterised by a new enclosure established to the north of the probable trackway, that appeared to front on to what is now Water Lane, adjacent to Bumpstead Brook. The scatter of pits and the slightly higher quantities of finds in this area may indicate that the enclosure was associated with nearby settlement, while to the south of the boundary were fields laid out on a similar north-west to south-east axis. <1>