Monument record PFM 008 - Brihtoluestuna; off Murrills Road

May - Aug 2002: Evaluation trenches found cemetery, limited to some 2,500 sq m around TM 2070 4235. No structural evidence for church, which was probably timber. Also various field boundary or enclosure ditches beyond cemetery, mainly to S and SE. Limited finds in ditches of IA, Rom & MSax (& Med) pottery suggesting longstanding arable exploitation. Also some concentrations of (mainly Med?) finds (S1)(R1).
Finds of Late Saxon occupation to W of cemetery at TM 20604236 (centre). Finds of Roman and Middle Saxon date to E of cemetery at TM 20804230 (centre). Details in (S3). HBSMR map expanded to include the two areas to E & W of cemetery (Oct 2009).
Also summarised (mainly documentary evidence) in Ipswich Archaeological Trust News number 57 for August 2002.
2004: further work by County Archaeological service mainly on area of related settlement (see summary in S2).
The excavation revealed further evidence of at least two major phases of road surface to the south of the site, with structural and artefactual evidence to support contemporaneous activity adjacent to the roadway. Three pits, containing an abundance of iron slag, and evidence of burning were also found, as well as a saddle quern, the former strongly suggesting the existence of a smithy adjacent to the road. To the north of the road, another two buildings of Late Saxon date were found, located within an enclosure, and another, possibly contemporary, trackway. A very concentrated series of pits and a possible latrine, related to one of the buildings, were revealed, as well as a complex of probable enclosure ditches. These all appeared to be Late Saxon in date as again Thetford-type Ware was present throughout most features. The earliest activity within the excavation area seems to predate the cemetery lying further to the east, but was almost certainly contemporary with it in the later phases (S4).
Area of cemetery left as open space, other areas built on with no further archaeological work!