Monument record RGH 125 - Medieval, Post-Medieval ditches and pits, at Field 1, Plot 700, Suffolk Business Park, Rougham

Archaeological trench evaluation revealed prehistoric artefacts. Limited Roman activity was limited to a copper alloy conical Bell and a fragment of Lava quern recovered from the topsoil and subsoil of trench 5. Ditches and pits relating to the medieval period were identified throughout the area, with pottery of the 11th to 14th century being recovered from the fills. There is an element of continuation from features recorded in previous evaluations of the site. Several of the ditches were undated on general northwest-southeast trench with approximate dates of 12th to 14th centuries and 16th to 19th centuries were noted. The number of finds indicated predominantly agricultural activity occurring throughout the site, with a possible small farmstead being within the vicinity (S1).

Excavation recorded an area of medieval activity and possibly occupation on the edge of the former Blowthorpe/ Blackthorpe Heath, an area of common land depicted on Hodskinson’s county map of 1783 and still mentioned in early-19th-century records (HER RGH 148). A series of rectilinear ditched enclosures were aligned off the medieval common-edge boundary ditch; these contained numerous large ovens, currently thought to be for drying cereal crops, as well as pits, ancillary structures and a well. Clear evidence for domestic buildings was absent, but these could perhaps have been built off ground-sill beams, thus not requiring earth-fast foundations. The fairly large pottery assemblage predominantly consists of local Bury and south-west Suffolk coarsewares, with a fairly high (for a rural site) proportion of glazed wares (15 per cent), principally from Grimston, Hedingham and Ely. Fabrics and forms suggest that the medieval activity mainly took place between the 12th and 14th centuries.
Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2022 (S2)

Evaluation identified scattered archaeological features found in greatest density in the central part of the site. The finds assemblage indicated activity on the site during the later 12th or 13th century, with little suggestion of continuation into the 14th century
Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2019 (S3).