Neolithic or Bronze Age ring ditches and features at Mistley (EHER 3239)

Neolithic to Bronze Age ring ditches and potential causewayed enclosure are visible as cropmarks on air photos.

Four ring ditches, also possible trackways, one following the line of the present parish boundary. <1> to <4> Only one ring-ditch was mapped as part of the NMP <6> January 2017. Aerial photograph interpretation. A broad ditch curving near north to south is visible as a cropmark on air photos. It is well-defined between TM1262 3069 and TM1261 3101, but may continue north-eastward to TM1268 3112 as a fainter cropmark. This ditch appears to be more than 5m wide, and there are at least 8 well defined causeways along its length that divide it into a sections varying length. In this respect it is similar in character to Neolithic causewayed enclosures but a later date cannot be discounted on the evidence of the air photos alone. A broad ditched circular enclosure is visible as a cropmark on air photos. This feature is likely to be the remains of a ring ditch that surrounded a Neolithic or Bronze Age burial mound. It is approximately 19m in diameter (internally). On photos taken in 1975 a small pale-toned circular soilmark coincides with the location of this ring ditch. This is likely to be the remains of the barrow mound. However it is possible that this mound material has now been completely truncated and dispersed by ploughing. A short arc of cropmark, which may indicate part of a second ring ditch, is visible on air photos. If it were a complete circuit this feature would have a diameter of approximate 12m. This feature lies approximately 140m to the north-west of a more visible ring ditch of likely Neolithic and Bronze Age date. If this cropmark does represent the remains of a ring ditch then this monument is also likely to be of Neolithic and Bronze Age date. Another ring ditch and other curving ditches are visible as cropmarks on air photos. The other ditches are less well defined than the ring ditch but they may be the remains of 3 or more conjoined round and/or oval barrows. All of these features are only visible on the photo listed below, which could not be scanned, they are mapped by eye and the error in their positioning may exceed 3m. <7> Information from NRHE Cropmarks of Bronze Age ring ditches and trackways of uncertain date seen on air photographs. <8> <9>