Late Iron Age roundhouse and early Roman to post medieval field system at Crown Quarry (EHER 80604)

Excavations found that Site B contained only a low density of prehistoric pits and unstratified artefacts. However, the remains of a relatively large Late Iron Age roundhouse in likely close association with a fragment of Late Iron Age to early Roman field boundary ditch system were also recorded. Retrieved artefacts suggest that this was probably a small farmstead. A scatter of mostly undated pits across the site may have been broadly contemporary. A single medieval / early post-medieval gully and post-medieval ditches marking an agricultural field system that pre-dated the modern landscape layout were also investigated

Excavations, 2011 The investigation of the 1.93ha stripped extent of Site B revealed the presence of a Late Iron Age roundhouse, two Late Iron Age / Early Roman ditches, three post-medieval / modern field ditches, a medieval / post-medieval gully and twenty-eight, mostly-undatable, pits. The majority of the features were located in the western two-thirds of the site. The roundhouse was situated in the north-west part of the site and was previously partly exposed in trial-trench 121 in 2006. It was represented by a slightly elliptical drip gully, measuring 16.5m east-west by 17.5m north-south (inside edge to inside edge). The position of an entranceway on the eastern side of the building was denoted by a 2m-wide gap. Finds retrieved from the gullies and post-holes comprised sherds of Late Iron Age pottery, dating from c.125 to 50BC, a slingshot, a flint flake, small amounts of baked clay, and lumps of burnt flint and sandstone, with most of the finds occurring in the entranceway terminals. Late Iron Age to early Roman field boundary ditch systems were also recorded in association with the roundhouse with a scattering of finds. <1>