Neolithic settlement site, NNW of Lawford House, also known as Tye Field (EHER 3)

A roughly circular ring ditch with an internal diameter of circa 21 metres. Two gaps exist in the circuit, one to the east and the other to the south west. The former is appreciably narrower than the latter. In 1959 the site was visible as a low mound, the presence of the ditch only being revealed on an air photograph taken the following year. Excavations took place in 1959 and 1962-1963 because of the threat to the site from ploughing and the expansion of Lawford. Further excavation occurred in 1971 partly for the same reasons but also to try to clarify the results of the earlier work. Excavations showed the ditch to comprise a series of interlinked pits, and was thus quite varied in depth and width. While there was evidence for recutting, there was no indication in the silts that a bank had stood adjacent to the ditch. The 1962-3 excavations recorded an arc of possible post-holes just inside and concentric to the southern half of the ditch circuit. The 1971 excavations found nothing in the northern part of the site to confirm the existence of such a feature, and the excavators remain sceptical about the identification of these features as post holes. In the centre of the site was a dense deposit of charcoal ("dark soil and black ash") circa 7 metres in diameter, which contained large quantities of pottery, bone, flint and burnt flint. The potsherds here were large and unweathered, suggesting that the deposit had been covered by the mound very soon after deposition. Their condition contrasted with the very small, extremely weathered nature of the potsherds recovered from the ditch. The bulk of the pottery recovered during the excavations was Grooved Ware, though some weathered earlier plain bowl sherds were present, as was a later possible Beaker and some Early Iron Age bowl sherds. The flints were broadly of the same date range as the pottery, although some microliths were also found.

Circular enclosure with opposed entrances showing as a cropmark. In appearance it is similar to a henge but although excavation has proved it to be of neolithic date the finds suggest a domestic function. The field to the north contains a large circular enclosure cut by a single ring ditch, also linear features. When first excavated in 1962-1963 the circular bank survived to a height of 12-18" and was 120' in diameter with a ring of post holes which probably represent a large circular house on the inner lip <1> Henge excavated by B. Blake in 1962-3 In 1962-1963 most of the central area and half the ditch circuit, including both entrances, were excavated. The internal bank had a revetment of a post and wattle fence (the large house referred to above?). The bank enclosed an area around 40' x 36'. In the centre of the enclosure was a small house, represented by a thick layer of black ash that had been trampled into a floor. No post holes survived but most of the finds came from this area. The excavations produced grooved ware, flints, bone pins, bones of pig and cattle and four petit tranchet arrowheads. Early neolithic, pre-enclosure pottery was found in residual contexts. A thick layer of black ash was found in the centre upon which most of the finds occurred. By 1971 plough erosion had almost completely flattened the earthwork. Only a thin surface flint scatter was found and a shallow feature containing grooved ware sherds. A small amount of similar pottery was found in the remaining ditch. The bank revetment post holes could not be confirmed and nothing was left of the black ash <2>-<3> In 1971 the site was re-excavated which involved stripping remaining untouched areas. Flints found included 'Petit Tranchet Derivatives', scrapers and a leaf-shaped arrowhead. About 400 sherds of Grooved Ware were also found. <5> Photo ref <15> SAM scheduling: Site consists of a circular bank and ditch, surviving to a height of 18 inches and around 120 feet diameter, with a ring of post holes possibly representing a large circular hut on the inner tip. The site has produced much pottery and flint work, the former being mostly Rinyo-Clacton type. Two ditch causeways show in air photo and one has been excavated. Often called a henge, it is likely to be a causewayed enclosure. Site no longer visible on the surface. <16> Aerial photographs <6> - <21> Listed by Harding and Lee as a domestic site, although the possible re-use of an earlier ritual site is not ruled out. <22> In November 1998, RCHME carried out a Level 1 investigation of the site as part of a project to record Industry and Enclosure in the neolithic (Event Record 923509). The monument was referred to by Jessup in 1970 as a possible causewayed enclosure (8a), but this interpretation can be firmly ruled out. <23> Additional references <24-28>.