Late Iron Age/Roman ditches on land at Limebrook Park West (EHER 81100)

Trial trenching and subsequent excavation identified three Late Iron Age/Roman ditches in Trenches 42 and 19. Of the three, one contained three sherds of unidentifiable Roman pottery.

September 2019-December 2021. Trial trenching and archaeological excavation. Two intercutting ditches were identified in Trench 42. The ditch on the Eastern side was truncated by the Western ditch. The ditches were linear in plan and oriented NE-SW, measuring between 0.8-1.2m wide and 0.16-0.2m deep. They had moderately sloping sides and concave bases. The Western ditch contained three sherds of unidentifiable Roman pottery and the features were attributed to the Late Iron Age/Roman period. A third ditch was recorded in Trench 19. It was linear in plan and NE-SW aligned, measuring 1m wide and 0.28m deep. It had moderately sloping sides, and concave base. Although no dating evidence was retrieved, the alignment and fill morphology were similar to the Late Iron Age/Roman ditches in Trench 42. The ditches could either be part of a Roman field system, similar to that at Limebrook Park East (EHER 49389), or a later medieval system containing residual Roman finds. <1>