Scheduled Ancient Monument: Bronze Age/Early Iron Age barrows identified by crop marks, Aldham Mill Hill (1461329)

An area of crop mark remains representing a prehistoric ritual landscape including the remains of three Bronze Age/Early Iron Age round barrows surviving as ring ditches. The site lies on the northern periphery of the market town of Hadleigh on agricultural land, bounded to the north by the A1071, to the east and south-east by Aldham Mill Hill, and to the west and south-west by the River Brett. Sand and gravels are recorded on the east and west sides of the site with alluvium deposits of silt and clay across the centre. The site includes crop marks of three prehistoric ring ditches, believed to be Bronze Age/Early Iron Age in origin and representing burial mounds or barrows (Suffolk HER HAD 020, 021, 022). The group is located in the south-east corner of the field and were targeted during the test pitting investigations. They range in size from 10-47m in diameter. One ring ditch (HAD 022) revealed three sherds of pottery and worked flint, broadly dated as Late Bronze Age to earlier Middle Iron Age. One of the barrows (HAD 022) is evident as a double ring ditch, the outer ditch maybe of Early Iron Age in date although this is based on a single flint flake and no dating evidence was recovered from the small sample of the inner ditch, however based on the relationship between the two it is believed to be of contemporary date and clearly prehistoric in origin. The ring ditches are most likely associated with those previously excavated by SCCAS (1999; 2010) outside the site to the south-east, in advance of development by Suffolk County Council. It is possible the excavated Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age ring ditches were associated with an area of possible settlement occupation of similar date, as suggested by ditched field boundaries, a possible droveway and a number of square and rectangular post-built structures located to the east of the site, all of which have been excavated (HAD 061; SCCAS 2000). Although plough damage is probably responsible for the removal or spread of the barrow mounds, and may have truncated some of the features recorded, the site remains unencumbered by development. Overall, the archaeological record demonstrates a change in the land use over time in this part of Hadleigh, transitioning from a prehistoric ritual landscape into one of agriculture from the Roman period onwards. Extent of Scheduling The area of protection includes the three ring ditches which represent a group of Bronze Age/Early Iron Age barrows, and the areas between these burial monuments, to preserve their spatial relationship and to ensure any burials between the barrows are encompassed. The area includes a 5m buffer zone around the ring ditches which was considered necessary for the support and preservation of the monument. It is quite possible that nationally important archaeological features lie beyond the scheduled area. An Early/Middle Iron Age square enclosure centred at TM 02404354 was recorded but cannot currently be confidently identified or interpreted and is not therefore included in the scheduling. A large Roman enclosure and trackway, also recorded in the northern half of the field are part of a wider Roman agricultural/villa complex but the spatial and functional relationship between the settlement focus and the wider remains has been truncated and the survival of structural archaeological remains appears fragmentary. For these reasons this part of the field is not included in the scheduling.