Monument record BUT 001 - Burrow Hill Iron Age (IA)

Burrow Hill - AP shows at least 6 ring ditches (hut circles ?) and 2 rectangular enclosures. Iron Age settlement site.
1937: Before reclamation Burrow Hill was surrounded on 3 sides by tidal flats. Local tradition maintains that skeletons of men and animals have been found on hill. In sides of gravel pit can be seen section of small ditch and at least 2 pits containing bones and charcoal. On floor of gravel pit, probably having fallen from the ditch, were remains of small black pot of IA type (hand-made)(illustrated) (R1)(R3).
1946: H Spencer and B Brown found one clay sling shot and 3 fragments of others; 2 sherds of red-surfaced hand-made pottery - from 2 'holes' or shallow patches of dark earth. Gravel pit on crest (TM 3900 4855) (S6). S West gives description of find as 3 small IA "hearths" in small gravel pit. They measured approximately 2 feet 6 inches across, and one complete and two fragmentary baked clay sling-pellets were found in one. Two small sherds of hand-made IA pottery also recovered (S1).
1963: Length of iron chain with hooks and large ring, much corroded. Found 4 feet down in course of gravel working. Belgic Cauldron chain, said to be Belgic (S7, confirmed by BM) but undatable, may be Saxon? (details in S3).
July 1965: Ipswich Museum excavation of pit or ditch, 12 feet wide, 2 feet 6 inches deep, revealed in gravel quarry. Below pit was post-hole, 7 inches wide, 2 feet 9 inches deep. Quantities of animal bones - ox, some sheep, pig and oyster shells. One sherd Rom pottery (S8)(R2).
For details of 1983 excavation - see (S2).
? Further information in B Brown archive.
For details of 1978-1981 excavations see (S3), finds included a small stake- wall round house, probably 4.2m in diameter with entrance to SE. See also BA, Rom, Sax & Med.

Three ditched enclosures and a number of possible ring-ditch features are visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs of Burrow Hill, Butley parish, centred on circa TM390464. The largest enclosure is visible at circa TM39054846, on the south east side of Burrow Hill. It is composed of two adjoining ditched rectangular enclosures, forming a single large enclosure measuring circa 55m x 175min size. The second rectangular enclosure is circa 90m to the north-west, on the other side of the Hill. Located at circa TM38974852, this has a narrower ditch and measures circa 50 x 68m. The third, less regular enclosure is also less clear on the photographs, being somewhat obscured by geological and periglacial features, but appears to be sub-circular in form and about 40x30m in size, centred on circa TM38894844. A number of possible ring ditch features are also visible on the aerial photographs. However, of the six mentioned in the original record above, three are very irregular and are almost certainly non-archaeological in origin, probably fungus rings. Of the remaining three ring ditches, the location of one within the area of the largest enclosure described above at circa TM39064846, might support an interpretation as a hut circle's drip gully, but otherwise its irregular form would again suggest a non-archaeological interpretation. The two remaining possible ring ditches at circa TM38914841 and TM38934843 are also rather irregular in form, suggesting non-archaeological origins. However, their similarity to the possible ring ditch within the enclosure necessitates that a possible interpretation as hut circles be recorded. (S4, S5)