Roman ditches and cremation cemetery at Park Farm, Bulls Lodge Quarry (EHER 80636)

Trial trenching in 2020 recorded a number of Roman ditches in the SE of the site, in Trenches 41-43, 49, 50, 53, and 58-60. Other undated ditches in their vicinity are probably associated. These probably constitute field boundaries that define two phases of Early and Mid Roman agricultural land use. A late 1st-2nd century AD cremation cemetery comprising fourteen recorded burials is present to their North, in Trench 35 which was extended to record the burials.

August 2020. Trial trenching. A number of Roman ditches are present in the SE of the site, in Trenches 41-43, 49, 50, 53, and 58-60. Other undated ditches in their vicinity are probably associated. These probably constitute field boundaries that define two phases of Early and Mid Roman agricultural land use. A cremation cemetery comprising 14 recorded burials is present to their North, in Trench 35 which was extended to record the burials. The majority of the recorded features containing Early Roman material are ditches, perhaps indicating an organised rural land use. Ditches in Trenches 41-43 are on N-S and E-W alignments and may define the limit to the main area of Roman activity to its South. While only producing broadly-dated Roman artefacts, ditches in Trenches 58 and 60 are on the same N-S alignment and may represent the continuation of the ditch across the South of the site. The apparent lack of Early Roman features to its East may suggest that this is the Eastern boundary of this land use activity. Further ditches in the SE of the site are on a differing alignment, being NE-SW and NW-SE aligned. Those recorded in Trenches 49, 50, 53 and 59 all contained Mid Roman pottery, with the largest quantity being retrieved from a ditch in Trench 59 (152 sherds). Similarly orientated linear geophysical anomalies within the unevaluated parts of the site to the West possibly indicate that this Roman activity extends in this direction. Towards the North of the site, seemingly isolated pits containing Late Iron Age/Early Roman pottery were recorded in Trenches 13, 66 and 79. A number of undated pits within Trench 66 were of similar character and at least some are likely to be of contemporary date. The Roman cremation cemetery within Trench 35 is likely to be of late 1st-2nd century AD date. Located North of the concentration of Roman ditches in the South of the Topsoil Storage Area, this cemetery activity was probably purposefully positioned outside an occupation area. It is also situated on higher ground than that of the ditches to its South. The cemetery comprised both urned and unurned cremation burials. Deposits of burnt bone were also apparent within the fills of these features. A total of 18 near-complete vessels were recovered from 12 of the 14 recorded grave features, as well as multiple large fragments which may derive from other vessels that had been damaged by ploughing. The recovered pottery is all of Roman date, and comprises a variety of vessels including greyware jars, flagons and a Samian cup and platter. These are all typical of cremation graves of mid 1st-2nd century AD date. <1>