Neolithic and Roman activity on land East of Slough House Farm (EHER 2612)

Cropmarks of a ring ditch, faint rectangular enclosure and a stretch of double ditched trackway, curving slightly, and probably linking up with EHER 2627. Trial trenching and subsequent excavation in the North of the area in 2007 and 2016 revealed a combined total of 51 prehistoric features, interpreted as thinly spread Neolithic activity. This included a pit containing at least four early Neolithic bowls. A phase of limited Roman activity was also recorded as a field system: a series of fields and paddocks were separated by a large trackway or droveway, first detected as a cropmark. Trial trenching in the South of the area in 2021 recorded ditches which probably made up part of a prehistoric field system, probably a continuation of the Roman one identified in earlier phases of work, but which could not be more closely dated. Also recorded was a single cremation in Trench 88, which could point to further cremations nearby.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import from two NRHE records. Cropmarks of a ring ditch, faint rectangular enclosure and a stretch of double ditched trackway, curving slightly, probably linking up with EHER 2627. <1> - <8> See also aerial photos <9> - <14> and plotted cropmark map <15>. October 2007. Trial trenching. Evaluation revealed thinly-spread activity ranging from the Neolithic to the Roman period, discounting modern field boundaries. The most important archaeological feature was a Neolithic pit containing at least four early Neolithic bowls, associated with flints, burnt flints and conglomerate stones. This pit group may be associated with the potential Neolithic enclosure, which lies 25m to the East. Other prehistoric features and finds, principally Neolithic, occur sporadically across the evaluation site, but not at a density to suggest intensive or long-lived activity. A Roman field system separated the area occupied by the earlier monuments from Roman fields and paddocks, in one of which was a possible Roman agricultural structure. <16> See also <17>. November 2016. Archaeological excavation. The 2007 evaluation and this excavation revealed a combined total of 51 excavated features of prehistoric date, consisting of 33 pits, 16 tree-throws, one pit/ditch terminal and one ditch/tree-throw. Seventeen dated to the Early Neolithic, (11 pits and five tree-throws and one pit/ditch terminal), four to the Middle Neolithic (three pits and one tree-throw), one to the Early/Middle Neolithic (tree-throw), four to the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age (three pits and one tree-throw) and two pits were of possible Late Bronze Age/Iron Age date. In addition was a pit of Neolithic date, and 13 pits, eight tree-throws and a ditch/tree-throw which could only be identified as prehistoric but are presumably contemporary with the dated features. The majority of these features were located within two main clusters in the NW corner of the excavation area and along the Eastern side. Almost all of the dated prehistoric features contained pottery sherds and/or pieces of worked flint, with a small number containing undatable finds (like heat altered stone and fired clay) that are probably of prehistoric date. Such material represents a range of daily activities including cooking and flint-working, providing evidence of repeated and persistent, although not necessarily continuous, occupation of the site throughout the Neolithic period with some activity possibly continuing into the Bronze Age and Iron Age. A phase of limited Roman activity on the development site dates from the 1st to 2nd century, possibly into the 3rd century. The cropmark of a length of double-ditched trackway was projected to cross the excavation area. Ditches divided the landscape into a series of fields and paddocks with a large trackway/droveway running through the centre of the excavation area. Sparse finds evidence suggests a largely agricultural landscape on the periphery of an area of low status occupation, possibly a small farmstead. <18> April 2021. Trial trenching. Forty trenches exposed archaeology consisting of ditches, pits and one cremation. The ditches probably made up part of a field system with at least one larger boundary ditch aligned approximately N-S across the centre of the site. Only five sherds of abraded pottery were recovered – two sherds of medieval pottery and one sherd of possible Beaker pottery – otherwise the features could not be closely dated. The cremation found in Trench 88 could point to further cremations nearby. The lack of artefactual evidence and the indeterminate pattern of the ditches suggests peripheral activity to that uncovered in excavations to the North, and could be either Roman or prehistoric in date. <19>