Post-medieval ditches at Broad Street Road, Heybridge (EHER 83526)

Trial-trenching recorded post-medieval ditches which correlate to field boundary ditches on OS maps from 1874.

June 2017. Trial trenching. A trial-trench evaluation at Broad Street Road, Heybridge, revealed three main phases of activity at the site. The third phase relates to the post-medieval agricultural activity on the site represented by three linear ditches two of which correlate with field boundaries visible on OS maps from 1874. Ditch 1016 in trench 4 was dated to the 18th century from pottery and ceramic building material fragments and is on a north to south orientation. This ditch is almost certainly the same as 1029 in trench 5 as they have a similar profile and a similar depth. Two further unexcavated sections of this ditch appear in trenches 14 and 25. This ditch correlates with a north to south field boundary visible on OS maps from 1874. On a similar orientation to the east in trench 26 is ditch 1042 which is thought to be related to the post-medieval boundaries of Tiptree Heath and is likely the same as ditch 1003 in trench 2. Gully 1058 in trench 20 was dated to the 19th/20th century and is on a north-west to south-east orientation visible in most of the trench. It is cut by pit 1064 which likely of a similar date. <1>