Medieval ditches on land West of Fambridge Road (EHER 81665)

Archaeological excavation in 2017 recorded the sparse remains of medieval boundary ditches which truncated the more substantial Roman ditches (see EHER 81664), though they were extremely shallow and may have been a hedgeline. A small assemblage of domestic pottery was recovered, perhaps suggesting a medieval settlement was located within the vicinity of the site. Also of note is one sherd of possible Early Saxon, or potentially Middle Iron Age date, which may suggest some form of land use in the period between the Roman and medieval activity.

August-December 2017. Archaeological excavation. No remains suggestive of continued land use from the Roman period (EHER 81664) were identified during the excavation; however, a residual sherd of sandy organic rich pottery may be of possible Early Saxon, or potentially Middle Iron Age, date and perhaps suggests some form of land use in the intervening period. Medieval remains, generally of 13th to mid 14th century date, were notably sparse, with a small number of perpendicular ditches/gullies located in the SW of the site. The North/South and East/West aligned linear features truncated the earlier, more substantial North/South aligned Roman ditch. They were generally extremely shallow and could potentially have been a hedge line. A number of undated pits, postholes and tree holes/throws may have been associated with this period of land use. Only a very small assemblage of generally 13th to mid 14th century pottery was recovered during the excavation. It appeared to be domestic in nature, perhaps suggesting that a medieval settlement was located within the vicinity of the site. A small quantity of similarly dated pottery was recovered during the evaluation of the site; however, this was poorly stratified and mostly abraded. No clear evidence of medieval features was revealed within the remainder of the site during the evaluation and so a settlement was unlikely to have been located in this area of the landscape. It is likely that this location in the landscape was used for agricultural purposes, perhaps for crop cultivation, as suggested by the large quantities of charred wheat and barley remains recovered from a number of medieval features. It is possible that this land was associated with a farmstead of probable medieval origin recorded about 380m to the SE of the site (EHER 19584). <1>