Site Event/Activity record ESF23188 - Excavation and Monitoring, Land to the rear of Chapel House, Chapel Green, Little St Mary's, Long Melford

Archaeological excavation and monitoring took place on land to the rear of Chapel House in advance of the construction of two new dwellings. Archaeological monitoring (a watching brief) was carried out in July and November 2015 during the excavation of a service trench, drainage trench and four soakaways. The service trench measured approximately 82m long, 0.45m wide by 0.65m deep, the drainage trench 54m long, 0.46m wide by 1-1.2m deep, and the soakaways 1.9m by 1.4m and 2m deep (totalling an area of 72m²). The excavation areas and trenches/soakaways were all stripped down to significant archaeological horizons. Three layers of a modern/post-medieval date were removed during stripping. Modern topsoil (L1, dark grey clayey-silt, c 230-340mm thick) sealed subsoil (L2, dark/mid grey clayey-silt, c220-540mm thick) which sealed an accumulation layer (L3, mid grey/brown clayey-silt, c 100-200mm thick). Layer L3 was not always present across the whole site. The exposed archaeological features were cut into natural (L4, silty/sandy-clay containing gravel patches) and sealed by either L2 or L3. One hundred and seven archaeological features were recorded during the excavation and monitoring. Ninety-nine dated from the Late Iron Age and Roman period and three to the post-medieval period. Five natural features were also identified (S1).