Monument record SUT 292 - Possible building and ring ditch, Little Haugh, Sutton SUMO (GEO) TT / ASE (TP)

2017: Magnetometry survey identified potentially significant archaeological features, including a possible large building, ring ditch and other likely multi-period activity, including a sizable area near the building of unknown function (S1).

A magnetometry survey and electromagnetic conductivity meter survey in 2017/18 revealed a large, clearly defined largely rectangular feature close to the east bank of the River Deben. In 2019, a trial trench of 5x2m, cutting across one edge of the feature revealed it as a cut in a homogeneous clay deposit filled with sand. The bottom surface of the cut was irregular, with linear ruts. There was no sign of any in situ building or flooring material, nor any building rubble remains. Archaeological finds were sparse, small, abraded pottery sherds from various periods and likely to be have moved to that location by downslope movement, flooding or other mechanisms. It is suggested that the feature was a rectangular clay pit; on the 19th century Tithe maps there are records of nearby kilns. The sandy fill appeared to be from several deposit events. The shell inclusions suggest the deposits are likely a result of major flooding events by the Deben, such as those experienced in the Middle Ages. The feature is higher than the coastal flooding levels reached by the 1953 and 2013 (S2).