Late 19th century timber-lined pit, Tenterfield Road (EHER 82064)

An archaeological watching brief on groundworks prior to the building of houses on land off Tenterfield Road, Maldon revealed a late 19th century timber-lined pit, possibly a tanning pit, but no earlier archaeological features.

1999. Watching brief. In the north-west corner of the site a large, rectangular timber-lined pit was discovered. This had canted corners and measured 15m by 6m. It lay at a depth of 1.28m from the modern surface and was itself 1.26m in depth. The sides were three planks deep and were possibly composed of reused timbers. The planks were 0.03- 0.05m thick and varied in length and depth. They were held in place with wooden posts to front and back. The pit had been filled with ash, coke, gravel and early 20th century bottles over a clay base. The pit can be dated to the late nineteenth century as it appears on the 1897 second edition OS map but not on the 1873 map, when the land was a field. It is almost certainly an industrial feature, possibly a tanning pit, and may have been reused when the site became a coalyard, its use prior to the current development. <1>