Middle Iron Age unenclosed settlement, 39-45 Crescent Road (EHER 81892)

Trial trenching in 2001 recorded Iron Age pottery and a curvilinear gully which may have been the remains of a roundhouse. Subsequent archaeological excavation in 2002 recorded a few post holes which yielded Early Iron Age material. There were numerous features with Middle Iron Age material (pottery and worked flint), spread throughout the site. This included a series of shallow post holes which may represent the remains of a possible Middle Iron Age structure in the north of the excavated area, and a curvilinear gully which may be a roundhouse drainage gully in the south of the site. In the east of the site there were also several shallow pits and post holes, again suggesting a possible structure. These were interpreted as the remains of an unenclosed Middle Iron Age settlement.

June-July 2001. Trial trenching. Surface finds include prehistoric and Iron Age pottery and an Iron Age coin. The distribution of the surface finds suggests that the earlier prehistoric and Iron Age features may be located more towards the west of the site, particularly in Trench 2. Trench 7 contained a shallow curving gully, more than 6m long by 0.5m wide by 0.22m deep. A rounded butt end was excavated to the north and both ends of the feature curved towards the eastern edge of the development area. Two sherds of Iron Age pottery were recovered from the fill of the gully. It is possible this gully is part of an Iron Age roundhouse that extends beyond the property boundary fence. Two small post-holes and a pit were undated. <1> August-October 2002. Archaeological excavation. A few features contained material of possible Early Iron Age date, notably post holes situated in the east of the site. There were numerous features with Middle Iron Age material (pottery and worked flint), spread throughout the site. While some of the artefacts were certainly residual in later features, there were notable concentrations of features containing material of this date. These included a number of post holes and pits, to the northwest of a later curvilinear feature. There were further features in the immediate area that contained pottery less precisely dated to the 'prehistoric' period and several features with apparently residual Middle Iron Age material. It is possible that this concentration, located amongst other features that were undatable, defines a Middle Iron Age structure. Few of the post holes in this area had a great depth, and it therefore is likely that any structure would have been temporary in nature. A further concentration of possible Middle Iron Age features, including several post holes and pits, existed in the south of the site, and included a curvilinear cut that was at least 5m long, though truncated to the north, and up to 1m wide. This possibly acted as a drainage gully for a putative roundhouse structure that may have extended beyond the limit of excavation to the south and west. In the east of the site there were also several shallow pits and post holes, again suggesting a possible structure. The lack of boundaries and major landscape features suggests this was an unenclosed settlement. <2> Note: The material described in this record may be associated with the settlement at Elms Farm, see EHER 81913.