Anglo-Saxon burial mounds, Broomfield Plantation (EHER 1906)

Three ring ditches were recorded at this location from aerial photographs taken in 1970. Salvage excavations in 1984 ahead of sand extraction revealed that these circular features were Anglo-Saxon burial mounds, each containing a single inhumation (burial). A wooden structure found within one of the graves was without parallel in East Anglia at the time of excavation. This site is similar in character to the Anglo-Saxon burial mounds excavated at Orsett in 1975 (EHER 5162).

Aerial photographs taken in 1970 show cropmarks of enclosures, trackway, and possible penannular huts at TM 069 199. <1> Information from NRHE import. Two sites known only from aerial photographs were sampled prior to sand quarrying in 1984. Information from NRHE import. 1984. Salvage excavation in advance of sand extraction. Three ring ditches were excavated in advance of sand extraction. Each was c8m in diameter, and had a shallow, central grave. The size and shape of the graves (2.2m to 2.4m long by 1m wide) suggests that they were inhumations. There were no grave goods and, because of the acidity of the soil, no bones survived. The size of the ring ditches is, however, closely matched by dated Saxon burials at Orsett (see EHER 5162). <2> The three ring ditches formed part of a larger cropmark complex (see EHER 2273). The whole of the sand ridge containing the cropmarks has been quarried away. The ring ditches were each c7.5m in diameter and each contained a single central rectangular feature interpreted as a grave. There were no human remains due to the acidity of the soil and no grave goods were found. Each of the 'graves' produced a black layer interpreted as decay of a blanket or winding sheet around the body. A small grey 'step' found in one of the probable graves was possibly the remains of a wooden head support. A pattern of black lines probably represents a series of wooden poles laid in the grave above the body. Another grave had a disturbance in the centre interpreted as a robber pit. The minimal finds included flintwork, flint-gritted pottery (see EHER 1902, EHER 1903, EHER 1904) and two sherds of Roman tegulae (see EHER 1905). The latter are interpreted as residual finds from nearby Roman settlements, indicating that the ring ditches could have an Anglo-Saxon date. The ring ditches are interpreted as the remains of Saxon burial mounds. Their diameter is similar to those at Orsett (see EHER 5162), which was the first site where Anglo-Saxon burials within ring ditches were identified, and those recorded at other East Anglian sites. The ring ditches may have had low mounds and probably formed an isolated burial group. The wooden grave structure is without parallel in East Anglia. Two of the linear ditches excavated proved to post-date the ring ditches and a late Saxon to medieval date is suggested for them (see EHER 1907). See <3> for further details. Site Assessment = Wooden grave structure indicated in one of the graves, is without parallel in East Anglia. <3> According to <2> and <3> the finds are in the Colchester and Essex Museum.