Monument record HTT 020 - Land at Shrubbery Farm, Hubbards Lane, Hessett

An archaeological evaluation and excavation was carried out in advance of a construction of 14 dwellings at Shrubbery Farm, Hubbards Lane, Hessett. The proposed development lay at TL 9368 6116 at a height of c. 67m OD. The site is towards the southern edge of the modern village in an area where the precise course of the green edge is uncertain. Interest in the site is centred on the potential to resolve this issue and to identify evidence for the medieval settlement.
The geological stratum is glacial till. Six worked flints of later prehistoric date and a small sherd of flint-tempered prehistoric pottery were recovered as residual finds in later deposits. Seven fragments of Late Saxon pottery were found in a post-medieval ploughsoil and a Middle Saxon copper-alloy ansate brooch was found in the topsoil. The earliest clear evidence for activity on the site is from the medieval period, principally the 12th-14th centuries. Several ditches produced small amounts of domestic pottery and other artefacts suggesting that there was occupation on or close to the site: A substantial north-south ditch is interpreted as a boundary at the rear of one or more properties (farms or crofts) that fronted on Hessett Green, to the west of the site. Other ditches to the east of the boundary ditch are interpreted as boundary / drainage features associated with a medieval field system (S1 S2)

Desk based assessment identified a low potential for Prehistoric and Roman periods and a low potential for in situ remains of Anglo-Saxon and Early Medieval periods. The study site lies on the south-eastern margins of the Late Medieval and post medieval village of Hessett. The bulk of the archaeological features identified in the evaluation are thought to be agricultural or horticultural. Late Medieval and Post Medieval pottery may result from manuring (S3).

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2009 (S4)