Monument record MNL 502 - Smoke House Inn, Beck Row Roman (Rom)

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Summary

Multi-period site, evaluation and excavation of BA, IA and Rom ditch systems and structures.

Location

Grid reference Centred TL 568 278 (262m by 339m)
Map sheet TL52NE
Civil Parish MILDENHALL, FOREST HEATH, SUFFOLK
Civil Parish Beck Row, Holywell Row and Kenny Hill, Forest Heath, Suffolk

Map

Type and Period (7)

Full Description

Multi-period site with evidence of Bronze Age occupation and finds, as well as extensive IA and Rom areas. Roman enclosures and ditch systems, also a large barn structure interpreted as a maltings or brewery building. Details in (S1) (S2) & (S3) .
See also IA and BA.

An excavation was carried out in advance of a housing development on land to the north of the Smoke House Inn, west of Skeltons Drove.
The earliest phase of activity on the site was represented by an occupation or buried soil layer which contained Beaker pottery of the Early Bronze Age. A series of ditch systems are largely datable to the early Roman period, although some, containing Iron Age artefacts, seem to belong to an earlier enclosure system. Probably contemporary with the latter are two small ring-trenches (c.5-7m in diameter) which may represent structures.
Also Roman in date was a large (c.30m x c.7m) aisled building (Fig. 10 ). This had at least two structural phases, both of which seem to be associated with agricultural use, although possibly not serving the same function. In both phases there was an aisled building with a compacted chalk floor; a layer of burnt debris between the two floor layers probably relates to the destruction of the first recognised building phase. A number of the second phase post-holes contain broken millstones, perhaps remnants of an earlier building function, and there are a number of gullies, or possible flues, within the floor of the second phase must relate to the function of the structure.
Further Roman ditch systems belong to a phase that post-dates the aisled buildings. A small number of post-medieval features were also identified, including field boundary ditches which relate to the more recent history of the site. Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 1999 (S4).

Sources/Archives (5)

  • <M1> Unpublished document: Suffolk Archaeological Service. Parish Files. (s1)(S2).
  • <S1> Unpublished document: Gill, D.. 1998. Archaeological Evaluation Report - Land to rear of Smoke House Inn, Beck Row, Mildenhall.
  • <S2> Unpublished document: Finch E.. 1999. Archaeological Excavation Report, Beck Row Assessment Report, Mildenhall. Excavation Report No. 99/42, Finch, E..
  • <S3> Bibliographic reference: Miscellaneous Bibliographic reference. Bales E, A Roman Maltings at Beck Row, Mildenhall, EAA Occ Paper 20, 2004.
  • <S4> Article in serial: Martin, E.A., Pendleton, C., Plouviez, J. & Thomas, G.. 2000. Archaeology in Suffolk 1999. XXXIX (4).

Finds (6)

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Events/Activities (2)

Record last edited

Aug 5 2024 3:21PM

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