Late Iron Age to Early Roman transition settlement at Elms Farm, Heybridge (EHER 81914)

Archaeological excavation in 1993 and 1994-1995 recorded an extensive Late Iron Age to Roman/early Saxon small town at Elms Farm, Heybridge. This record presents the evidence for the Late Iron Age-Early Roman transition period (mid 1st century BC to early/mid 1st century AD) at the site. It should be considered alongside the other records for settlement at Elm Farm, especially records EHER 17445, EHER 17446, EHER 81915 and EHER 81916 which record the other Roman evidence.

The following is a brief description of the work which has been undertaken at the site (see note below). 1993. Geophysical survey. Some of the features described below were detected during a geophysical survey, see EHER 81889. 1993 and 1994-1995. Archaeological excavations. The evidence for the Late Iron Age settlement is fragmentary in nature. However, the northern terrace was probably used as farmland for the settlement on the lower terrace. A series of ditches divided the lower gravel terrace into fairly large, rectilinear, units of land (strip-plots), and the excavations recorded fragmentary remains of buildings alongside pits and other occupation features, including roundhouse gullies. It appears to be in the Late Iron Age that a sacred place was established in the centre and highest point of the lower terrace, and was made up of at least two buildings which have been interpreted as a shrine, perhaps with at least one phase of reconstruction. This settlement was remodelled around the mid 1st century AD, with the creation of a formal infrastructure of metalled roads, as well as a new temple precinct on the earlier sacred site and a reworking of the strip-plots into enclosures. This remodelling spanned the Late Iron Age/Early Roman transition period, although the new road network is tentatively dated to the decade or two preceding the Roman conquest. To the north of the settlement area were a number of burials, pyre sites and pyre debris dumps. Early Roman cremations were added to this area slightly later. Some of the pyre sites exhibit higher-status elements, and at least one may have been ‘aristocratic’, suggesting the presence of a local elite. The division between Late Iron Age and early Roman settlement is rather poorly defined, in fact there may well be none at all. In the case of Heybridge, it can be demonstrated that the impact of Roman culture can be seen as early as the mid 1st century BC and that the greatest impact on the physical settlement had already been felt prior to AD 43 (the conquest), with the remodelling of the settlement. <1> <2> <3> Note: This record provides a broad summary of the character of the settlement activity at Elms Farm during the Late Iron Age to Early Roman transition period. The excavated evidence is vast and cannot easily be summarised in this record. For a more detailed discussion of the excavated evidence from the 1993 and 1994-1995 excavations please refer to the Open Access monograph <1> and <2>. It should also be noted that it is not possible to confidently ascribe a discrete division between each phase of occupation at this site and, as such, the information described here should be considered alongside the other records for Elms Farm (EHER 17444-17446 and EHER 81912-81917). 1995. Metal detecting. Metal detecting of the spoil heaps created by the removal of topsoil recovered a significant quantity of coins and small finds which spanned the Late Iron Age to Roman period. The earliest dateable coin was a Republican denarius bearing two obverse bankers marks, from around 56 BC. Several 'Catuvellauni' and two 'Trinovantes' coins were also recovered, with date ranges from around the 1st century BC to 40AD. Other finds include brooches, lead weights and miscellaneous small finds. <4> The remaining is a general description of the site gathered from several sources. To a lesser extent, the Late Iron Age remains within the 1994 site suffered the same fate as those of the prehistoric periods (EHER 1744, EHER 81912 and EHER 81913), that is, truncation by overlying Roman features. However, this is not so severe a problem, as the sheer number of surviving contexts shows. From the fragments of roundhouses, ditches and numerous pits which occur across the whole of the site and are provisionally dated to around 50 BC - AD 50, it appears that the Late Iron Age settlement, while extensive, was a relatively dispersed one, and perhaps flourished only a short time before the Roman conquest. Indications of trackways underlying the main road layout suggest that the settlement grew up along a route heading south toward the river and estuary. The temple complex appears to have its origins in the Late Iron Age, the first phase comprising a large circular building inside a square enclosure, flanked by a sequence of circular and rectangular buildings; perhaps ancillary shrines or accommodation for priests or visitors. The road layout clearly respects the temple enclosure in all phases. In Area W, a concentration of cremation burials aligned neatly along a major field boundary suggests the importance attached to liminal land. Other significant features across the site include: a pit full of 'feast' debris, perhaps deliberately distinguished from ordinary rubbish; numerous boundary ditches aligned on the road layout; deposits filling in natural hollows. It is also noteworthy that many of the features with metalworking debris are provisionally dated to this early phase. Limited excavation, especially in the highly stratified areas, has produced an incomplete view of this period of occupation, though where sequences have been completely excavated, a rather undulating prehistoric landscape has been found below Roman levelling. However, as further analysis is undertaken it is possible that more Iron Age features will be recognised. Conversely, refinement of the pottery typology and chronology may actually result in the recognition of many of these Iron Age features actually being very early Roman in date, though not necessarily 'Romanised' in nature. It is also anticipated that very many of the small, undated pottery assemblages are, as likely as not, of this date. <4> See also other published works and reports <5> - <11>. See newspaper articles <12> - <16>. See aerial photograph <18>. Note: There is extensive evidence for Late Iron Age to Roman occupation in the areas immediately outside of the 1993 and 1994-1995 excavated areas. A Late Iron Age to Early Roman field system, buildings and burials were recorded at Langford Road (EHER 14652) to the north and a funeral pyre was recorded at 39-45 Crescent Road to the north-east (EHER 81893). Elsewhere on Crescent Road, quarry pits and ditches were recorded (EHER 46278) and Late Iron Age activity was interpreted (EHER 7794). To the south of the excavated areas, geophysical survey detected the probable remains of Late Iron Age and Roman linear features on land to the north and south of the A414, demonstrating the activity described in this record probably continued into this area (EHER 81887 and EHER 81888). Two small watching briefs on the land to the south of the A414 recorded Late Iron Age to Roman pits, ditches and occupation layers (EHER 47095 and EHER 47133).