Prehistoric ring ditches, enclosures and pit clusters on land East of Alresford Hall (EHER 2613)

Ring ditches, pits and a double ditched first detected as cropmarks. Trial trench evaluation recorded evidence for ring ditches, boundary ditches and pit clusters at the site. The double ditched trackway links up with cropmarks to the North. Though many of the features remain undated, a small finds assemblage provides evidence for Early Neolithic, Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age, and Late Iron Age or Early Roman activity.

Cropmark evidence. The cropmarks of seven ring ditches, three of which have central pits. There are also pits, linear features and a double ditched trackway which links up with cropmarks to the North. <1> - <7>. Only four ring ditches were mapped, one is larger than the others and is 20m in diameter with a clear central pit and three smaller ones. <8> April 2020. Trial trenching. Archaeological evaluation recorded features which partially correlate with the known cropmarks and include ring ditches, enclosure ditches and a possible trackway. Two pit clusters were also recorded in Test Pits 7 and 30. Pottery was recovered from several features and dates from the Early Neolithic, Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age, and Late Iron Age or Early Roman periods. The majority of the features identified by cropmarks remain of uncertain date. A small number of Neolithic finds including a residual struck flint suggest a possible phase of ephemeral Early Neolithic occupation or episodic domestic activity in the period. Late Iron Age to Roman features were the most numerous and clustered within Trenches 1 – 5, and with an outlying feature within Test Pit 29. The pottery is commensurate with rural domestic occupation in the early to mid 1st century AD in the hinterland of Roman Colchester. <9> July 2021. Watching brief. Archaeological monitoring during the groundworks for a children's play area encountered several archaeological features which are described by area. While it is difficult to fully identify how the features fit into the landscape here, whether agricultural or purely domestic, it is clear the area had a variety of uses including funerary practices and cloth production. Car Park - SE of site. Five pits and five ditches, one of which was a curvilinear, were uncovered in the car park excavation. Four of the ditches were in the Western area, and two of these were on a parallel NW-SE alignment with a wide U-shaped profile. Small assemblages of pottery were recovered from both ditches, dating one to the Middle Iron Age and the other to the Late Iron Age. They are probably a continuation of the trackway indicated by cropmarks and encountered by trial trenching. Also in this area was a Middle Iron Age curvilinear ditch and one undated ditch which merged to suggest the two are contemporary. In the Eastern area a single ditch was uncovered on a NNE-SSW alignment and with a U-shaped profile. Three sherds of pottery and a copper-alloy coin were recovered dating it to the Late Iron Age/early Roman period. To the West of this ditch were five pits, one of which produced the site's largest assemblage of pottery, 135 Late Bronze Age sherds. The assemblage included sherds from a possible bucket urn. Another of the pits contained an almost complete Bronze Age loomweight. Two of the pits were undated, and one contained a small quantity of cremated bone. Service Trench - from centre to North of site. Seven features were identified in the service trench: three ditches, including continuations of the parallel ditches from the car park excavation, and three pits. All three pits were undated and not fully exposed due to the limit of excavation. Car Park Drainage - SE of site. Two undated ditches were uncovered in the Southern two drainage trenches. They were both on a NNE-SSW alignment and are parallel to the ditch uncovered in the Eastern car park excavation area. Enchanted Castle - centre West of site. A possible ditch and an Iron Age pit were identified in the excavations for the foundation pads. Tank Trench - centre South of site. Four features were uncovered: the very end of the terminus of the Middle Iron Age parallel ditch from the car park area, the edge of the Late Iron Age parallel ditch and two undated pits which were both small and not fully exposed. <10> Additional reference <11>