Late Iron Age to Roman field system, north-east of Heybridge Hall, Hall Road (EHER 9023)

Trial trenching in 1991 recorded what was thought to be a double-ditched enclosure. A subsequent excavation in 1997 proved this to be a complex series of ditches and gullies, forming part of an extensive enclosure system along the Blackwater Valley.

May 1991. Trial trenching. An Iron Age settlement was found during an evaluation at Heybridge Hall in 1991. It consisted of a Late Iron Age ditched enclosure defined by a double ditch about 1m deep and about 5m across at the top. There were a number of internal features (pits, postholes, slots) but, because of the narrowness of the trial trenches it was not possible to interpret them fully. However, the presence of pottery in most of them, especially in the form of dumps of large, unabraded sherds in the enclosure ditch, strongly suggests that this was a settlement. The settlement was defined, in part, by an enclosure ditch. This lay between the road, the canal and the northern extent of the derelict buildings. Roman pottery was recovered during the evaluation. The material was found in Trenches I and II, but was suggested to extend to the full extent of the mapped polygon. <1> <2> April-May 1997. Archaeological excavation. An archaeological excavation in advance of residential development comprised the investigation of two areas: Area 1 revealed a series of Late Iron Age-Early Roman ditches which form part of a more extensive field and enclosure system along the Blackwater Valley. Limited structural evidence was represented by several timber slots and postholes. Excavation Area 1 was centred on the two 1991 evaluation trenches which yielded Late Iron Age features. At an early stage in the excavation it became apparent that the Iron Age enclosure postulated by the 1991 evaluation was not present. The ditch thought to represent the curvilinear boundary of the enclosure was in fact a linear feature and the shape of the enclosure had been extrapolated from a confusion of ditches on slightly different alignments. <3> <4>