Medieval trackway, kiln and other activity at Bardfield Road, Finchingfield (EHER 80818)

Archaeological excavation in 2022 recorded part of a late 12th-early 13th century subdivided enclosure which may have been the rear edge of a set of roadside settlement plots on the former line of the original road to Bardfield. Further along the road was a second enclosure associated with a post-built structure, an undated hearth and a concentration of domestic waste. A second series of enclosures dating slightly later to the 13th/14th century were also recorded, on the same alignment and replacing the earlier ones, and within one was a medieval tile kiln constructed from peg tiles. An undated post-built structure nearby may have been associated and used as shelter or for drying tiles. The early land ownership of the site has not been certainly established, and the patrons of the kiln and the identity of the tilers is not known. However, its proximity to the moated manor site Great Winsey (EHER 1495) may have significance.

December 2021. Trial trenching. The vast majority of features recorded by trial trenching were dated between the 12th-14th centuries. Both the features and the finds assemblages recovered clearly indicate that the occupation of the site was of relatively short duration, commencing in the 12th century and being abandoned in the later 14th. This is a common signature in occupation sites – be they settlement-related or agricultural – at the limits of medieval villages, and shows the medieval expansion of population, settlement sites and agriculture prior to the late 14th century collapse. The Medieval activity was concentrated in the SE corner of the site in Trenches 11 & 12 which were located on the Southern edge of the slope, with the trackway skirting its edge. The trackway in Trench 11 is a medieval hollow road and is the principal feature on site. Activity was recorded on both sides of the road in the form of pits and ditches, and possible beam slots. The pits to the North, in Trench 12, have the character of shallow gravel pits, whereas those in Trenches 1 and 11 have a more agri-industrial character. The quantities of material recovered, and features revealed, do not necessarily indicate settlement activity, but potentially represent relatively long-term agricultural activity. There is as yet insufficient data to confirm, but the features may show sequencing from the 12th to mid 14th century. <1> March 2022. Archaeological excavation. Evidence of medieval domestic, rural and industrial activity peripheral to the village was investigated by the excavation. This was focussed on a trackway which appears to have been the original line of the road to Bardfield, where it curved to skirt low lying ground. Towards Finchingfield, part of a late 12th-early 13th century subdivided enclosure may have been the rear edge of a set of roadside settlement plots; within these, intercutting pits were recorded. Further along the road, part of a second enclosure was associated with a post-built structure, an undated hearth, and a concentration of domestic waste including pottery, fired clay, a hook, a bobbin, and a small, varied collection of animal bones. Across the site more widely, there was a possible charcoal pit kiln and a series of shallow, regularly arranged subrectangular pits which may have been related to the small-scale exploitation of the natural clay and gravel. A handful of ‘fiddle key’ nails for fixing shoes suggests the presence of horses or oxen, whilst a piglet burial may indicate pig husbandry. In the 13th/14th century, new enclosures were created on the same alignment as the earlier ones. A tile kiln was built within one of these, dug into the slope at the side of the road. It was constructed from peg tiles, with a ramped stoke/rake-out pit and twin flues beneath a firing floor. An undated, modest post-built structure nearby may have been a shelter for the manufacture or drying of tiles, whilst a waste pit and more broadly dated medieval hearth and oven within the enclosure could, along with a nearby well, have been for subsistence or industry associated with the tile works. Other possibly related features include an extraction pit broadly dated to the 12th–14th centuries, another hearth/oven, and a series of pits in the lower lying, wetter area towards Finchingfield Brook that could have been for the extraction and puddling of clay. The early land ownership of the site has not been certainly established, and the patrons of the kiln and the identity of the tilers is not known. However, the kiln lay within 1km of a moated manor, Great Winsey (‘Wenelishey’ in the 14th century) (EHER 1495), and documentary evidence suggests that it may have lain on the edge of its associated estates: the kiln could have been commissioned to provide tiles for a house and its outbuildings. The track continued as a route into the late medieval and early post-medieval periods, when a ditch was dug across it. The line of Bardfield Road now runs further to the East, across a more recent causeway. (See EHER 80819). The kiln also appears to have been backfilled in the Late medieval/post-medieval period. <2> <3>