Monument record WKB 114 - Roman ditches and Early Saxon occupation layer, Land at Bunters Road, Wickhambrook

2024: The evaluation of the c.2.5ha site comprised the investigation of twenty-one trenches which recorded a low density of linear ditches, pits, postholes and layers, mostly located in its southern half.
Three ditches of Roman date were identified in the south of the site, two of which are projected to meet to form the corner of a rectangular enclosure. These relatively substantial ditches contained large and varied assemblages of animal bone and oyster shell, as well as pottery of seemingly varying Roman dates. The only other identifiably Roman features, two small pits, were located in the putative enclosure interior and may have been remains of activity associated with it.
A soil layer of Early Saxon date overlay the corner of the ditched enclosure. Its full extents were not exposed, but it appears to have been deposited within the top of the largely infilled ditch or else was the surviving part of an originally more-extensive deposit that has been since removed/reworked by later cultivation activity. The relatively large quantity of Early Saxon pottery and diverse range of animal bone recovered from it suggests that it was a deposit of domestic waste, hinting at occupation activity in the near vicinity.
A number of undated lesser linear ditches and/or gullies and pits/postholes were distributed across trenches in the southern and north-western parts of the site. At least some of those in its south are likely to have been associated with the Roman land use evidenced here