Medieval ditches and pits at land west of Stortford Road, Clavering (EHER 81374)

The archaeological evidence indicates a somewhat more substantial phase of activity occurred during the medieval period.

2022. Trial trenching. The evaluation comprised the excavation of twenty trenches, archaeological remains were found in all trenches including a series of ditches and gullies, pits and a posthole. The archaeological evidence indicates a somewhat more substantial phase of activity occurred during the medieval period. These seven features, the majority of which were ditches, were associated with sherds of Hedingham ware consistent with a mid 12th to mid 14th century date. <1> 2022. Excavation. During excavations undertaken by Wardell Armstrong following trial trenching in 2022, fifty-four features were identified. The site was multiperiod, but the two main periods were late Bronze Age to early Iron Age and medieval. The medieval period was represented by ditches and pits, most notably a substantial recut boundary ditch running on the same south-west to north-east alignment as a nearby trackway shown on the 1st edition OS map. A second east-west aligned boundary ditch was also re-cut, and both ditches continued into the postmedieval period, containing predominantly medieval but also smaller amounts of post-medieval finds. The two ditches went out of use by the late 18th to early 19th before the modern field pattern was created in the 19th century. Notable finds from the two main ditches include, a 12th century horse goad, a mid 14th century coin of Edward III, and a late medieval copper alloy purse bar fragment. <2>