Roman enclosure, granary and cemetry, area to the south of the Chignall St. James Roman villa (EHER 1045)

Excavations from 1977 to 1981 on the area adjacent to the Roman courtyard villa revealed a large enclosure ditch, storage pits containing carbonised grain, a post-built granary and a small inhumation cemetery.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import. Excavations from 1977 to 1981 on the area adjacent to the Roman courtyard villa where Cawoods Aggregates had obtained planning permission to extract gravel. The excavations revealed a large enclosure ditch, within which were a group of first century AD storage pits containing carbonised grain, these were replaced by post-built granaries in the second century AD. Outside the villa enclosure were two cobbled areas and a fourth century AD sub-rectangular enclosure associated were a series of sub-rectangular enclosures of late third or early fourth century date, linked by a fenced droveway, they are interpreted as paddock ditches backfilled in the late fourth century. The Early Roman strip field system was found to comprise at least 23 units eash around 5m wide and over 100m long. A trial trench exvacated to locate the SW side of the enclosure revealed two large ditches of early Roman date with an internal bank, possibly revetted with a timber box construction. A metalled surface running parallel to the drainage gullies within the field system was shown to post-date it. A small inhumation cemetery overlay an early Roman pit complex; some graves cut into enclosure ditch silts. 27 graves survived but more may have been obliterated by ploughing. A sequence was established for three main types of burials: supine burials (some in wooden coffins) succeeded by 'boot' burials in wooden coffins, followed by decapitated burials. Grave-goods were few but later third century and fourth century AD pottery accompanied 'boot' and decapitated burials respectively. <1>-<5> In the southern corner of the field there was evidence for a possible early 2nd century structure. Two parallel ditches, also of second century date, were probably for drainage as they ran towards the river. Slag on the site suggested industrial activity. <1>-<6> For full details of excavations see <7> Site Assessment = Site destroyed by gravel quarrying. Additional references <8> <4>