SEX39905 - Ongar Radio Station, North Weald: Archaeological Evaluation, Fieldwalking survey & Trial trenching

Abstract/Summary

Description

An evaluation was carried out in advance of a Planning Enquiry for development of a site, whose boundary is almost entirely coincident with that of the northern part of Ongar Great Park, which may be of Anglo Saxon origin. Documentary evidence has been researched and collated relating to both the park and the Essex Redoubt. The latter is one of a series of fortifications built towards the end of the 19th century as a defensive ring round London, and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The earliest mention of the park may be a reference to a deer enclosure in the will of Thurstan, written between 1043 and 1045. Landscape survey noted a few potential archaeo logical features, including traces of the agger of the Roman road between Chigwell and Dunmow, arid a possible small, robbed-out round barrow. Two trial trenches were excavated by machine across the projected line of the road. One of these revealed a gravel spread on the predicted alignment, which is probably the remains of the metalling of the road, though no side ditches were found nor dating evidence recovered. Fieldwalking of the arable parts of the site had to be fitted in with a prolonged ploughing programme, and was only completed in mid-January. The results have not yet been analysed in detail, but preliminary observations suggest a general absence of medieval finds, commensurate with use as a deer park. A few medieval sherds were found at the northern end of the site, adjacent to the present main road. There was a thin spread of post-medieval sherds over much of the area (use as a park had ceased by about 1640), with concentrations of 19th- and 20th-century material close to present buildings and tracks. No Roman occupation is indicated. Prehistoric occupation also appears to be largely absent, though there is a concentration of burnt flint at the north end of the site. This is close to the medieval sherds, and it is not known whether this is a coincidence or not. The soils are generally heavy and prone to waterlogging, and may have been unattractive to early settlers. Finds: Inst. Arch.

Record last edited

Sep 17 2026 12:30PM