Concentration of Roman pottery sherds, brick and tile, Maltings Lane (EHER 16463)

Fieldwalking in 1995 identified a concentration of Roman pottery sherds, brick and tile which were thought to indicate the location of a Roman occupation site and probable building. The area was subsequently excavated - see EHER 18504 for details.

1995. Systematic fieldwalking. There is such a large group of Roman material lying south of the Primary School that there is a very strong probability that a Romano-British occupation site is located here (and that material from the site is being brought to the surface by ploughing). The only other alternative, that the material was carted out onto the fields with manure from a nearby Romano-British farm, is less convincing. The Roman pottery which, while not heavy on the ground, does share the distribution pattern of the Roman brick and tile, indicating a strong possibility that a Roman occupation site is located here. The pottery included a 1st century Samian sherd and several later Roman wares indicating a long date range for the site. Roof tiles and structural brick strongly suggest that the source of this material was a masonry building of the Roman period. The pottery, domestic in nature, and the quern fragments, support the picture of a domestic site. <1> suggests that there is likely to be a connection between these finds and the cropmark enclosure (EHER 8462) and suggested that the cropmark may be the western boundary of an enclosure containing a Roman structure. See <1> for further details. See EHER 18504 for details of Roman features and finds excavated at this location.