Site Event/Activity record ESF20805 - Land at Junction of Creeting Road and Mill Street, Stowmarket

In December 2010, Archaeological Solutions Ltd carried out an archaeological trial trench evaluation of land at the junction of Creeting Road and Mill Street, Cedars Park, Stowmarket, Suffolk (NGR TM 063 589). The evaluation was undertaken in advance of a proposed junction alteration. The development area is affected by the alteration of the junction between Mill Road and Creeting Road; this will particularly impact on the north-west corner of the field to the south of the junction (Cedars Park Phase 10). An evaluation of the rest of this field revealed a low level of activity with the greatest density of medieval finds from pits (mainly extraction pits) in the area immediately adjacent to the present development proposal (T Ennis 2009). Previous phases of investigation at Cedars Park have revealed a middle to late Iron Age settlement, a late Iron Age and Roman farmstead and several areas of dispersed medieval settlement. The evaluation comprised two trial trenches. Though the trenches were relatively close together, the archaeological features were only present in Trench 1. The features were broad in range comprising ditches, pits and post holes, and they were quite dense (six in one 40m-long trench). The larger features, Ditches F1003 and F1006, contained relatively large medieval (12th - 14th C) pottery assemblages (27 and 58 sherds respectively). A few other finds (CBM, animal bone and oyster shell) were also present. An adjacent excavation (Cedars Park Phase 4C) has also revealed medieval features. It seems likely that the medieval (12th/14th C) features and finds relate to settlement fronting either Creeting or Mill Road, both of which are potentially early routes. Project status: Complete Yes, Validated Yes Previous/Future Work: Previous Yes, Future Yes Associated Identifiers: Contracting Unit No. P986 Sitecode SKT 059 NMR No. 1532747 Project Type: Field evaluation Development Type: Road scheme (new and widening) Methods and Techniques: Targeted Trenches Position in the Planning Process: Not known / Not recorded Reason for Investigation: Planning condition Current Land use: Grassland Heathland 3 - Disturbed Monument Type(s)/Period(s): NONE None Artefact Type(s)/Period(s): POTTERY Medieval PROJECT LOCATION Area 2000.00 Square metres Grid Reference: TM063589 Point Height 45.00 - 45.50 metres PROJECT CREATOR(S) Organisation: Archaeological Solutions Ltd Brief originator: Suffolk County Council Archaeology Service Design originator: Jon Murray Director/Manager: Jon Murray Supervisor: Tim Schofield DIGITAL ARCHIVE Recipient: Suffolk County Archaeology Store Contents: Animal Bones, Ceramics Media: Database, Images raster / digital photography, Spreadsheets PAPER ARCHIVE Recipient: Suffolk County Archaeological Store Contents: Animal Bones, Ceramics Media: Context sheet, Correspondence, Map, Microfilm, Photograph, Plan, Report, Section PHYSICAL ARCHIVE Recipient: Suffolk County Archaeology Store Contents: Animal Bones, Ceramics BIBLIOGRAPHY Publication Type: Grey literature (unpublished document/manuscript) Title: Land at junction of Creeting Road and Mill Street, Cedars Park, Stowmarket, Suffolk. An Archaeological Evaluation. Author(s)/Editor(s): T, Schofield Other Bibliographic Details: AS Report No. 3703 Date: 2010 Issuer/Publisher: Archaeological Solutions Ltd Place of Issue or Publication: Hertford Description: A4 Ringbound Document