Roman field system and cremation graves, Hobbs Hole, M25001.08/09, Junctions 27 to 30 of the M25 motorway (EHER 80941)

The Roman period is defined by an increasingly complex field system. Two cremations were also attributed to the Roman period.

2008 to 2011. SMS. A small number of features were dated to Phase 5. Pit 6086 was oval in plan and measured 2.84m along its maximum length, 2.05m in width and 0.52m in depth. It had a steep concave profile and was filled by three dark green-grey silty clay deposits, the upper of which contained 16 sherds of pottery, including black-surfaced ware, a bead-rimmed jar in grog-tempered ware, sand-tempered oxidised ware, and shell-tempered ware. Collectively this material dated to the third quarter of the 1st century AD. A group of ditches (5022, 5024, 5054, 5058, and 6091) east of ditch 6039 may have represented the remains of small enclosure. The ditches were relatively short or severely truncated, and ranged from 0.75m to 1.3m wide and 0.1 to 0.25m deep. Pottery recovered 5058 was broadly Roman in date. Pit 5035 towards to the north-east corner of the northern area contained two ceramic vessels – a grey ware jar and a fine grey ware poppyhead beaker (both labelled SF101 in the field) dating to the late 1st or early 2nd century date for deposition – which were fragmentary and had been damaged by the plough. The early or mid Roman periods were characterised by the establishment of rectilinear enclosures and other boundaries, although the remnants are patchy with only parts of the ditches defining the fields surviving. No structural evidence for domestic occupation was found, and it is likely that the enclosures were associated with agriculture or the management of livestock. Two quarry pits began to fill during this time. Pit 5083 in the central part of the northern area was irregular in plan, measuring 11m across its widest extent. The feature was not bottomed, but was deeper than 1.2m. The lowest recorded fill contained pottery dated to the 3rd or 4th century, but pottery from the fill above that included bead-rimmed dishes and a lid-seated jar in reduced wares, dating some deposition to the first half of the 3rd century. The pit, however, remained available for deposition well into the 4th century, as Oxford red colour-coated ware and late shell-tempered ware recovered from an upper fill suggests. A single grave was dated to the mid Roman period. Grave 6096 was circular in plan with a steep, though profile; it was 0.4m in diameter and 0.17m deep. Two ceramic vessels were deposited. A necked jar served as the cinerary urn and was accompanied by a flask in North Kent grey ware. Cremated human bone was recovered mainly from inside the jar, with smaller amounts collected from the yellow-brown silty clay backfill and the flask. The bone was identified as the remains of an adult. The pottery dated the grave to the later 2nd century. Grave 4303 was uncovered in evaluation trench 43 between the southern and northern areas of excavation. The grave was circular in plan with shallow sides and concave base. It measured 0.15m in diameter and 0.02m in depth and was filled by a dark grey-black silt containing charcoal and human bone belonging to an adult. Two body sherds in sandy grey ware, which dated broadly to the Roman period, may be part of a very fragmented funerary vessel. <1> - <4>