Monument record HWT 054 - Medieval field system and stock enlosures, Old Station Road, Halesworth

August 2018: Geophysical survey did not identify any remains of an archaeological nature. Magnetic anomalies identified within the survey area are likely to relate to either modern or agricultural activity, or to be of geological and pedological origin (S1).

September 2018: Archaeological evaluation revealed a series of ditches and gullies on the east side of the site aligned in two directions representing a rectangular field system, including a possible square enclosure in the north-facing side of the valley. Small quantities of pottery retrieved from the features suggested that these date to the 11th or 12 century. Animal bone present in the ditches show that these represent stock enclosures rather than arable fields. Close to the centre of the eastern side of the site was a post-hole, pit and gully filled with charcoal-rich material, evidence of burning. Environmental analysis of the pit and gully fills, identified animal and fish bone, carbonised cereal grain, nutshell, and fired clay suggesting these derived from domestic occupation in the vicinity (S2).

November 2018: Excavation of a medieval enclosure and field systems, featuring a roughly square enclosure with an entrance to the northeast. The entrance may have been created after the infilling of part of the enclosure ditch in that area. Other phasinf included internal divisions that segregated parts of the enclosure Sherds of early medieval pottery, of 11th-13th century, were recovered from ditch fills. As well as the pottery, the excavation recovered samples that contianed fuel waste, fired clay, and animal bone that was interpreted as middening activity (S3).

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2018. (S4)