Monument record BRG 077 - Medieval and undated features, Areas 2 & 3, Land at Moreton Hall, Great Barton

2014: A geophysical survey was followed by a trial-trench evaluation, which recorded twenty five features, principally ditches, as well as an undated pit and posthole, and a modern quarry pit. Three ditches were dated by the presence of medieval pottery, and their courses were traceable in several further trenches. These boundary ditches were previously identified in the geophysical survey, and may comprise evidence for the medieval settlement at Catshall Green. The trial-trench evaluation also identified a possible kiln and related features. Settlement evidence associated with the medieval Catshall Green was recorded and the features in Trenches 15 and 30 have the most potential in this respect (S1). Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2014 (S9).

2017:Evaluation for phases 1 and 2 identified settlement evidence associated with the medieval Catshall Green. Boundary ditches identified during the geophysical survey were excavated (S2). Thirty-three features were recorded, principally ditches. A kiln, a pit, and a posthole were also recorded (S3).

2018: Phases 3, 4 and 5 evaluation. The results of the evaluation generally comprised of dutches and pits, with a slight concentration in the north-east of the site. A small number of pits, including one interpreetd to be a heath/fire out have been broadly dates to the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age period based on small quantities of pottery and worked flint. The majority of the recorded features, fomr which a small assemblage of building material, metalwork and glass was recovered, are dated to the first half of the 20th century. Several of the recorded ditches correspond with the geophysical anomalies and correlate with a road and runway associated with the former airfield, most likely functioning as drainage ditches. A small number of other ditches, pits and made-ground deposits are most likely related to the former airfield land use. A small number of features are undated, some may relate to earlier prehistoric land ue or perhaps may be associated with medieval agricultural land use previously recorded further to the north of the current site n the Phase 2 development area (S4).

2019: Phases 3, 4,and 5 excavation . The excavations at Lark Grange revealed sparse remains of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age, Middle Iron Age date comprising ditches/gullies, pits, a post hole and three hearths/fire pits. A limited Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age presence was evidenced by a single pits recorded during the 2018 evaluation of the site, dated by a collection of 77 sherds of Beaker/and or Grooved Ware pottery. A small flint assemblage consisting of undiagnostic flakes and three possible Mesolithic or Neolithic partial flint blade fragments was residual within Middle Iron Age deposits. The lithic assemblages and isolated pit indicate a low level and transient use of the site in the prehistorical period. More substantial remains of Middle Iron Age date were found, primarily focused within Area 1, and consisted of parallel ditches and a gully, two hearths and a pit. A third Middle Iron Age hearth/fire pit was recorded in isolation in Area 2. Continuations of the ditches were identified during a 2014 geophysical survey and recorded during two phases of excavation; they were found to extend south-eastwards for approximately 1km (RGH 066, RGH 083, RGH 086). This boundary also potentially extended further northwards, as suggested by geophysical survey and excavation in 2014–15 (BRG 076). The feature is interpreted as a land boundary ditch related to agricultural activity within the area, as evidenced by four grain store structures and associated features recorded to the southeast. The hearths/fire pits also attest to dispersed activity, possibly associated with a nearby farmstead. No features post-dating the Middle Iron Age were identified during the excavation. Remains including enclosure ditches, pits, an inhumation burial and a large midden, ‘Cattishall Tumulus’, were recorded to the north and northwest in 2015, potentially suggesting a movement in the focus of land use to higher ground in the Late Iron Age/Roman period. The land between Cattishall and Bury St Edmunds maintained an agricultural and pastoral character throughout the medieval and post-medieval periods. Estate maps dating to the 18th century indicate the area was made up of common land and some strip fields until enclosure in the early 19th century. Metal detecting of the site produced metal artefacts spanning the 17th-20th centuries, including two George II and one Victoria coin, and various munitions relating to the Second World War and the site’s use as a military airfield (S5).

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2018. (S6)

2021: The great majority of recorded archaeological features were indicative of medieval (11th- to 13th-century) land use activity, comprising at least five possible phases of development and culminating in a large ditched boundary delineating the edge of the historic Cattishall Green. Earlier ditches are likely a result of agricultural activity and show the gradual movement of the boundary from east to west. Within this agricultural landscape area were pits and three oven/kilns, the latter likely used for grain processing. Sampling of their fills and of fills of some ditches and pits attests to the medieval-period cultivation of wheat, oats and rye crops in the vicinity and to their cleaning/processing and probable drying. This medieval agricultural land use was of similar date and nature as that recorded within the Phase 1 excavation area to the west (S7).

2019:Following the geophysical survey of the c.20.5ha development site in 2014, a trial-trench evaluation was undertaken across Phases 3, 4 and 5 (c.12ha). Twenty-one trenches contained archaeological remains, including a pit and heath/fire pit tentatively dated to the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age period. Subsequently, two excavation areas totalling 1,885sq m investigated prehistoric features in the west and south of the site. These excavations recorded sparse remains of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age and Middle Iron Age date, comprising ditches/gullies, pits, a posthole and three hearth/fire pits. Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age land use was evidenced by only the single pit recorded during the 2018 evaluation, which contained seventy-seven sherds of Beaker and/or Grooved Ware pottery. A small flint assemblage consisting of undiagnostic flakes and three possibly Mesolithic or Neolithic partial flint blades was residual within Middle Iron Age deposits. Middle Iron Age remains were found primarily within the western area and consisted of parallel ditches and a gully, two hearths and a pit. A third Middle Iron Age hearth/fire pit was recorded in isolation in the southern area. Further parts of the Iron Age ditches had previously been identified by geophysical survey and excavation, where they were traced south-eastwards for c.1km (RGH 066, RGH 083, RGH 086). This boundary also potentially extended further northwards, as suggested by geophysical survey and excavation in 2014–15 (S8).