Probably Roman finds assemblage, pit and remains of a house, in the Vicarage grounds (inside the Second Walled Enclosure), Great Chesterford (EHER 83319)

Prof. McKenny Hughes excavated in the grounds of the Vicarage in 1880. He recorded drinking vessels and broken quernstones in the bank below the churchyard wall in the grounds of the Vicarage. Also within the grounds was excavated the debris of a house which had been destroyed by fire, and a large pit exposed by gravel digging. The precise locations of these features is not known.

1880. Antiquarian excavation. Prof. McKenny Hughes excavated in the grounds of the Vicarage in 1880. He recorded that ‘in the bank below the churchyard wall in the Vicarage grounds, there was a larger proportion of drinking vessels and the better and more highly ornamented class of pottery … Broken querns, generally of Niedermendig lava, but occasionally of puddingstone, were found here and there.’ Also within the grounds was excavated the debris of a house which had been destroyed by fire. There was a large pit exposed in digging gravel for local purposes. At the bottom of this there was a layer of sand in and on which were bones, oyster shells and broken pottery. This layer was about 2 feet in thickness after the accumulation of which the pit appears to have been filled up with the burnt plaster and charred wood from the fire. The house was built of wattle, on which a mortar consisting of clay with sand and straw or rough grass was spread and covered with a fine plaster. This was painted red in panels with bands of white round the margin. In addition, the iron bars of a door or large chest were found with pieces of charred wood attached, and large corroded iron keys were scattered over the site. <1> Note: The exact location of the finds and of the excavated features is not known. The mapped location is approoximate, using the map (Fig. 4.7) in <1>.