Late Iron Age to early Roman remains at land west of Main Road, Broomfield (EHER 80867)

Late Iron Age to early Roman features included a possible field system and cremation.

2017. Trial trenching. An archaeological trial-trench evaluation carried out by Archaeology South-East at Land West of Main Road, Broomfield, Essex between 29 September and 26 October 2017. The fieldwork was undertaken as part of scoping works for the site’s potential residential development. A preceding geophysical survey of the site identified anomalies defining a possible field system and settlement within the north of the site against Main Road (a known Roman Road), as well as more sporadic evidence of potential field boundaries and enclosures within the west and south of the site. A total of 128 evaluation trenches were excavated across the c.25.64ha site extent, which was divided into four areas by the extant field system (Areas 1-4). Many of the trenches were targeted upon selected geophysical anomalies in order to test the validity of their various interpretation as indicators of the presence of probable or possible archaeological features, uncertain and natural features, and areas of truncation and disturbance. Below-ground archaeological remains were found in 104 trenches and a close correspondence between plotted geophysical anomalies and below-ground archaeological remains was demonstrated. Collectively, the greatest density of identified archaeological remains was located in the north-east of the site. A low density of remains were present across the south and west of the site. Very few remains were found in the east central part of the site. A high density of remains of Late Iron Age/Early Roman land use activity were present in the north-east of the site. The density and complexity of these remains increased eastwards toward Main Road. The western part of this complex has been provisionally interpreted as agricultural fields and the east as a possible settlement area. This apparent roadside settlement continued into the Mid/Late Roman period. A large rectangular enclosure the south-east and three cremation burials found at two locations within the south-west of the site represented outlying, possibly unassociated, land use activity in the Late Iron Age/Early Roman period. <1> 2017. Geophysical survey. Remains of ditches relating to relict parts of the historic post-medieval field system were present across much of the site. Plotted by both Lidar and the preceding geophysical survey, these are recorded on mid/late 19th century and later Ordnance Survey mapping and are understood to have passed out of use in the 20th century. <2> October 2018. Geotechnical test pitting. The only definite feature recorded during the monitoring works was of early Roman date. It appeared to run roughly parallel to Main Road and may have formed part of the ditched field/enclosure system identified during the preceding geophysical survey and evaluation. All of the trial pits were located within the higher density of archaeological remains within the site as identified by evaluation. This has been speculated to constitute a Roman settlement area. <3>