Possible Early Bronze Age round barrow on land North of Chadwell St Mary, Orsett Heath (EHER 80903)

Trial trenching recorded a circular ring ditch which was interpreted as the remains of an Early Bronze Age round barrow flattened by ploughing. The feature produced pottery which differed from that recovered from the Late Iron Age enclosure to the west (EHER 1801). A series of pits were recorded within the ring ditch but were not excavated.

September 2013. Geophysical survey and trial trenching. The earliest activity on site comprises a ring ditch dated to the Early Bronze Age, probably a round barrow flattened by ploughing. No burials were present within the trenches, although a number internal features were identified, but these may be of natural origin. The location of this feature corresponds with an NMP cropmark, although it was not identified by geophysical survey. Trench 24 was located to investigate a cropmark that was not detected by the geophysical survey. Two curving ditches were interpreted as the Southern and Northern sides of a possible round barrow ring ditch, and this feature was examined further in trench extensions to the West and East that confirmed the presence of the circular ditch, which measured 10.5-11.0m in diameter. Within the ring ditch there were irregularly-shaped pits, not excavated, with slightly silty sandy fills. Pottery comprising a fabric containing dense flint inclusion was recovered from the surface of the inner edge of the Southern ring ditch. The fabric of this pot sherd differs from the typical Iron Age fabrics found in the enclosure to the West (EHER 1801) and may date to the Bronze Age. To the East, Trench 25 contained a circular pit which produced pottery that may also date to the Bronze Age. <1>