Monument record FEX 316 - Prehistoric occupation and late medieval/early post-medieval roadside settlement at Land West of Ferry Road, Felixstowe (PCA) EVL (ASE) EXC

October 2017: A historic buildings record (Historic England Level 3) was undertaken of the pillbox located on land off Ferry Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk. The recording work was commissioned by CgMs Consulting and was carried out as part of the planning requirements placed on the redevelopment of the site for housing. The pillbox is part of a wider landscape of World War 2 features relating to the defence of the port of Felixstowe and its environs. The structure was short-lived; the pillbox was erected as an invasion defence in the early 1940s, probably by the 558th Field Corps, but by 1942 as the invasion threat
receded, pillboxes and other defences against land invasion were wound down as attention turned to the war in Europe. (S1)

2017: An evaluation was undertaken prior to a housing development. The earliest activity was evidenced by a buried soil, recorded in the south-east corner of the site and believed to be the fill of a natural hollow filled through the prehistoric period and later through natural processes. Pottery dating to the Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age periods recovered from the soil indicates the presence of settlement activity dating to these periods within the vicinity of the site. The condition of the flint retrieved from the soil and ditches in the south-east of the site indicates that it has been recovered from very close to where it was originally discarded. The struck flint represents a relatively undisturbed knapping scatter which has been assessed to be of significance.The majority of features on the site represent a late medieval/early post-medieval field system with boundary ditches and furrows either parallel or perpendicular to Ferry Road. Two small perpendicular boundary ditches, forming a possible field boundary or enclosure containing pottery dating to the 13th -14th century, are
located in the north-western part of the site, and a stone-lined well containing potterydating to the 15th-16th century is located close to the north-eastern edge. Both could be part of ‘backyard’ activity associated with features and/or settlement of that date along Ferry Road. Several ditches, predominantly in the central to southern part of the site were on a slightly different alignment to those of the post-medieval field system and may represent an earlier field system. Its date is unclear. (S2)

2018: In 2017, evaluation of a 4.6ha development site established the presence of prehistoric and late medieval/early post-medieval remains. Subsequent excavation in 2018 of four areas totalling 1.03ha targeted the recorded remains in the N and SE of the site. In the SE, the extent of a prehistoric hollow and buried soil was exposed which comprised naturally deposited drift sands containing a range of Early Neolithic pottery and worked flint. Early Neolithic pits were also identified, some cutting into the deposit. Residual Late Neolithic and Bronze Age artefacts suggested continued occupation of the landscape. A rectangular ditched enclosure of Early Iron Age date, with associated pits and post-holes, and the remains of a Late Iron Age rectilinear field system were recorded in the N of the site. Roadside settlement with early/mid-11th-century origins was identified in the N part of the site, evidenced by a concentration of pits, ditches and a possible building. Settlement activity appeared to have intensified from the 12th century onwards, with pit clusters, water hole/wells, a quarry, debris layers, a further possible building and an increased range of artefacts; this demonstrated occupation and associated agricultural activities within ditched enclosures/plots. The roadside settlement activity appeared to have ceased in the 14th century and was replaced by strip field systems dating to the 15th to mid-16th century. These field systems were restructured in the early post-medieval period to create larger rectilinear fields; this layout had been further simplified by the 19th century.
Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2018. (S3, S4)