Monument record MNL 778 - Multi-period occupation, Mildenhall Community Hub

2016: Geophyiscal survey of four fields recorded anomalies of potenital archaoelogical origin, with the highest potential for archaeological remains located in the southern half of Field 1 and across the majority of Field 2. A linear feature was identified and is depicted as a trackway on the 1882-1983 OS maps. A number of positive discrete anomalies could be indicative of archaeological pits. Several were clustered in and around the positive perpendicular linear anomalies which have been interpreted as potential settlement ditches (S1)(S4).

2017: Sporadic remains of Neolithic to Bronze age occupation and Iron Age to Roman features were recorded in the northern area of North Field, along with a medieval/post-medieval trackway and ditch. Two sizable areas of quarry pitting were also locatedd in North Field, one undated whilst the other was probably late medieval/early post-medieval. Other undated features were also recorded in this area. The most significant discovery in North Field was a 7th century Saxon grave with grave goods of a bowl, spear, small blade and a shield, buried with a large square cut that had evidence for posthoiles and a possibly truncated mound.
In the South Field several pit clusters, throught to be Iron Age to Roman, were identified alongside another large medieval/post-medievalquarry pit and several undated ditches. A sibgle truncated Sunken Feature Building (SFB) was also recorded in South Field. An intense cluster of small postholes in one area is possibly post-medieval and probably relates to the use of the site for agriculture/allotments in the 19th century.
Within the School Field South area the most significant remains were of a better preserved SFB and porbably associated posthole hall, as well as the remains of another potential hall. Further undated pits and a post-medieval pits were recorded in this field. In the School Field North area a probable field drain was recorded and several other features which which have been interpreted as natural phenomena or irregular pits.
In terms of environmental material the samples produced evidence to suggest that agricultural, horticultural, domestic and light industrial activities were likely to be taking place in the vicinity (S2)(S3).

2022:Archaeological investigations by Suffolk Archaeology CIC (SACIC) and Cotswold Archaeology (CA) from 2016 to 2019 of a 26ha site southwest of Mildenhall recorded principal phases of late prehistoric and Early Anglo-Saxon occupation. A single highstatus Anglo-Saxon burial (Grave 0404) of the mid 7th century AD was also found with grave goods, including a hanging bowl, spear and shield. Isotope analysis of the male skeleton has suggested that the deceased was of local birth. Broadly contemporary buildings include small post-built ‘halls’ and sunken-featured buildings (SFBs). The prehistoric occupation is dated by associated pottery and radiocarbon determinations to the Middle Iron Age (400 BC–100 BC). The evidence of settlement comprised over 120 pits in around a dozen pit clusters, as well as ditches that represent the remains of farming enclosures. The mainly cylindrical pit features contribute to an ongoing debate about the nature of ‘grain storage pits’ and their disuse in the period: in keeping with other finds from across Britain, some of the pits are marked by final acts of ‘structured’ or ‘special’ deposition. They include two pits that contained adult human burials, another that had a complete horse, and one which provided a sheltered hollow for an oven. The enclosure ditches of the Iron Age settlement were located to take advantage of a large natural feature in the south of the site, a mired palaeochannel (2157) that had once been a tributary of the River Lark. Combined macrofossil plant, pollen, diatom and mollusc evidence, together with a geoarchaeological study of the channel’s formation and silting-up processes, have allowed for the reconstruction of the farmed environment from the prehistoric to medieval periods. In addition, finds of coins, other artefacts, and animal and human remains within the channel fills suggest the possibility that further ritual activity was centred on this marshy ‘wet’ feature in the later Iron Age (100 BC–AD 43) and Early Roman period (AD 43–200) (S5).