Monument record LMD 232 - LIA/Roman burial site and quarry site at Chapel House, Long Melford.

2014: A trial-trenching evaluation prior to residential development identified nineteen features (pits, post-holes and ditches), most of which are dated to the Roman period. The Roman pits contained broken domestic debris and construction material, and some evidence for industrial waste in the form of horn cores. There may have been a post-built structure in the southern part of the site, but whether this was a fence or a building is not known. The more closely-dated Roman finds are of 1st and 2nd-3rd century date - there is no indication of Late Roman (mid/late 3rd-4th century) activity. There is some evidence that the Roman settlement followed Late Iron Age occupation, and a few prehistoric flints and a sherd may indicate earlier prehistoric activity. There was one late medieval pit. These results are broadly consistent with previous investigations rear of the street frontage of the main road through Melford. Although Roman burials have been found on other Melford sites, there were none here. Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2014 (S1). Full report to follow.

2015: Excavation revealed one hundred and seven well-preserved features. Ninety-nine were of a Late Iron Age and Roman date, with three post-medieval pits and five natural features. Most of the LIA/Roman features were pits but others included postholes, stakeholes, gullies, a small section of possible road surface and five burials (three inhumations and two cremations) with a few gravegoods recovered. In addition, the partial human remains of at least 15 other individuals were also identified. Evidence shows that site originated in the early-mid 1st century with three pits possibly representing the remains of baby/juvenile burials. In the early Roman period (mid 1st – early 2nd century) it was primarily a quarry site, with pits dug to extract the natural clays, sands, silts and gravels required for the construction of the Roman road. Located on the eastern margin of the settlement the site was subsequently used as a rubbish dump for buildings fronting onto the road (later 1st – 2nd century). By the later 2nd to 3rd century baby/juveniles and adults were buried here. Small quantities of later Roman material (later 3rd/4th century) suggests a return to rubbish dumping but the settlement was in decline by this period.

Finds recovered from the pits include a large quatity of roman pottery including loomweight fragments, a copper alloy coin of Cunobelin (SF1, AD 10-43), a copper alloy coin Claudius I as copy, a copper alloy spoon-probe, a toilet spoon, quern stone fragments, one complete sheep carcass and other animal bone. In addition two of the pits contained a small quantity of prenatal/neonatal human bone and a very small quantity of cremated bone. These baby bones may belong to a later phase of the site when later Roman burials were cut into earlier pits, however it is possible these features are LIA/early Roman burials (S2).

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2015 (S3).