Monument record NWN 018 - OUTLINE RECORD: Early Saxon occupation, probably prehistoric ring ditch, post-medieval ditches at land South East Bury St Edmunds (OAE) EXC

2014: Evaluation revealed a ditch which corresponds with the probable ring ditch NEN 016 identified on aerial photography and the geophysical survey. Two probable sherds of Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age pottery, worked flint of later Bronze Age date and animal bone were collected, suggesting that the ditch was filling in during or after the late prehistoric period. Other prehistoric features include a small post hole containing two probable Iron Age pottery sherds, a possible hearth or pit used for dumping hot ashes containing charcoal rich deposits, burnt flint and slag. A broad ditch contained worked flints suggesting a prehistoric date. A small quantity of Roman pottery and CBM was collected from six features, pits, ditches, sunken featured building. Two Roman coins were also recovered. Evidence for a phase of early Anglo-Saxon occupation was seen along the natural slope, consisting of several probable sunken featured or post built structures together with associated pits and enclosures. Eight features have been interpreted as SFBs, early Anglo-Saxon pottery was collected from the surface of 6 of the seven fills, together with animal bone, fired clay and small amounts of residual worked flint and Roman tile. A glass bead, iron fragments and a hone were recovered. Two possible post-built structures, several pits, and ditches were also dated to this phase.
A series of post-medieval ditches were identified, and most correlate to previously recorded cropmarks, geophysical features and historic mapping. Several features were undated, some may be related to the phase of Anglo-Saxon occupation but others, particularly those with paler fills may be natural or prehistoric; pits, postholes, ditches. The trenches demonstrated that the floodplain area is occupied by other former palaeochannels some of which correspond with NWN 011 cropmarks (S1). Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2014 (S3).

Evaluation results north of the river are recorded under BSE 453.

A second phase of trial trench evaluation took place across this c.23ha site following an initial phase carried out in 2015. The earliest identified activity at the site dates from the Late Upper Palaeolithic or early Mesolithic, and consists of an assemblage of blade cores, core tablets and blades. It was possible to refit one of the cores and core tablets recovered from a tree-throw, indicating that further in-situ evidence for Mesolithic flint-working might be preserved within the site. There was widespread, though dispersed, evidence for Neolithic and Bronze Age activity, consisting of isolated ditches, pits, and flint-working waste. During the Bronze Age a cluster of barrows or burial mounds were constructed partway down the slope towards the river Lark; however, due to later agricultural use of the site all that remains of the mounds are three ring-ditches, two of which have had preliminary investigation during the two phases of evaluation.
The early Anglo-Saxon period saw an intensification in activity, represented by a series of pits, postholes, and ditches in the northern and eastern parts of the site. Three structures were identified, consisting of a sunken-featured building and two post-built buildings. Evidence for early Anglo-Saxon metalworking included two pits with burning in their bases, hammerscale, slag, and heat-affected slagged clay from a possible hearth. There was also evidence for possible funerary activity focused on the site of the former barrows: a buckle and a pierced Roman coin recovered here during the metal detecting survey may be disturbed grave goods.
Post-medieval remains included pits in the north of the site, former field ditches that correspond with boundaries shown on historic maps, and a late Victorian bottle dump or midden in the west of the site, which consisted mainly of Greene King bottles from the local brewery.
Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2022 (S2)