Monument record LDM 008 - Medieval field system on land at Grove Farm

An evaluation of a 2.6ha area of clayland pasture revealed a series of small ditches with shallow concave bases that ran mainly east-west, with a few running north-south, but all diagonally to the existing field boundaries. The east-west series were roughly parallel to each other at distances that varied from 1.3m to 6m. These may relate to strip field agriculture, but while a small quantity of medieval pottery was recovered, this could be residual and is not reliable as dating evidence. Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2009 (S1).

The trenches to the south east of the present farm buildings only encountered modern truncations and services, while those in the larger field to the south west and west revealed evidence believed to relate to medieval strip field agriculture, orientated approximately east-west, covering the central area of the evaluation. While a small quantity of medieval pottery was recovered, the nature of the finds, their paucity and degraded character indicate that they could be residual or intrusive finds and therefore not definitively reliable as dating evidence. The other likely date for activity would be the Roman period, however the lack of any Roman pottery from features this close to a significant Roman site would suggest that a medieval date is more likely, and this does tally with what finds were recovered (S2).