Monument record WTL 013 - Later Prehistoric field sytem and Roman Cremation on Land North West of Haverhill

2018: Excavation revealed an extensive but undated field system, likely to be later prehistoric in date as it was on a different alignment to later securely dated features. The most significant discoveries related to a series of ditched fields and enclosures laid out on either side of a trackway, but predominantly on its N side. The track led W from the Haverhill road towards a medieval site known as Alderton Chapel, later occupied by Chapel Farm. The earliest boundaries and a smaller track appear to have been established in the late 11th to 12th centuries AD but were subsequently reworked on several occasions. Although predominantly agricultural in character, there was clear evidence of domestic activity within some of the enclosures, including structural remains and rubbish pits, along with more ‘industrial’ pits/tanks, quarries and possible work surfaces. The densest activity was concentrated in the W extents of the excavated areas, closer to the track and the presumed site of the chapel. Activity appeared to decline by the 14th century and the land was no longer inhabited by the late medieval to early post-medieval period; a fate presumably linked to that of the adjacent chapel.
Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2018. (S1)

2018: Excavation revealed an extensive but undated field system, likely to be later prehistoric in date as it was on a different alignment to later securely dated features. A cremation burial was also recovered from a small pit. The calcined bone was radiocarbon dated which returned a date of AD6-122 indicating the cremation belongs to the Late Iron Age or Early Roman period. Further prehistoric or pre medieval features included a number of puts which contained fragments of prehistoric pottery and worked flints (S2).