Site Event/Activity record ESF19855 - Land to the rear of 'Almacks', Long Melford

Archaeological evaluation and monitoring during the construction of three houses on land to the rear of 'Almacks', Hall Street, Long Melford identified the presence of well-preserved Roman features and an overlying Roman soil horizon, showing that the site lay within the area of the known Roman small town. Archaeological features principally consisted of substantial refuse pits interspersed with occasional linear features. There was no firm structural evidence although the assemblage of CBM indicated the presence of at least one building in the vicinity. A single 2nd century coffined inhumation burial of a young female was also identified amid the refuse pits. The site therefore probably lay on the western margins of the settlement, within a series of tenement plots being used as dumps for domestic refuse, to the rear of buildings fronting the Roman road. The finds assemblage indicates an origin for the settlement in the first half of the 1st century AD, with the main focus of activity occurring during the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and derived from domestic occupation activity. The settlement then declined during the late 3rd and 4th centuries, with the presence of CBM in features being backfilled by the 4th century indicating the demolition of nearby structures. The coin assemblage, which has a strong bias towards the late 4th/early 5th century, was mainly recovered from the overlying soil horizon. Evidence of activity post-dating the Roman period was insubstantial with only occasional finds of medieval and post-medieval date when the site was probably open plots to the rear of properties fronting onto Hall Street.