Monument record HGH 058 - 19th century post-mill, bronze age waterhole and medieval enclosures, undated features Land at Green Road, Haughley (AS) GEO (PCA) EVL

Trial trench evaluation and excavation were carried out in advance of housing development. This identified four areas of significant archaeological remains, which were subsequently excavated. In Area 1, the remains of a 19th century post-mill, ‘Mere Windmill’, were excavated, along with associated ancillary buildings and surfaces. In Area 2, a pair of undated parallel boundary ditches were excavated. These boundaries were respected by a subsequent late Saxon to early medieval (c. 11th century) enclosure, probably used for managing livestock. Area 3 targeted a small undated pit found during the evaluation; an undated ditch was excavated. Area 4 was focused on a large later Bronze Age waterhole found during the evaluation. The lower fills of this feature contained a concentration of burnt flint pebbles, presumably waste material from nearby activities involving the use of hot stones to heat water from the waterhole. Column samples from the pond fills contained pollen, which indicated an open, probably pastoral, landscape from at least the Late Bronze Age, which may have become more intensively grazed during the Iron Age. The waterhole was truncated by an east to west early medieval ditch (S1) (S2).

Following the results of the evaluation, four areas were targeted for excavation. In Area 1 the remains of the 19th-century Mere Windmill were excavated, along with an associated ancillary building and other features shown on late-19th-century maps. In Area 2 a pair of undated parallel boundary ditches, possibly forming a trackway, were the earliest features. A subsequent late Saxon to early medieval (c. 11th-century) enclosure, forming part of a farmstead, was established, respecting the earlier undated boundary. Area 3 targeted a small undated pit found during the evaluation; an undated ditch was excavated. Area 4 was focused on a large Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age waterhole found during the evaluation. The lower fills of this feature contained a concentration of burnt flint pebbles, presumably waste material from nearby activities involving the use of hot stones to heat water from the waterhole. Pollen from the waterhole indicates an open, probably pasture, landscape during the later Bronze Age. The waterhole was truncated by an east to west early medieval ditch. Metal-detector finds of a silver penny of Edward I and a copper-alloy mount suggest arable land use and associated spreading of night-soil from the village or outlying farms during the ‘high’ medieval period (13th/14th centuries). (S3)