Monument record RGH 066 - Iron Age farmstead at Land to East of Lady Miriam Way, Moreton Hall, Rougham

2012: Forty-two trial trenches were excavated across an area of 4.45ha on land to the east of Miriam Way, Moreton Hall, in advance of the construction of a football pitch. The evaluation identified a large swathe of modern truncation and disturbance running through the middle of the development area resultant from the site's previous use as an airfield. Further disturbance from deep ploughing was also noted. A sparse archaeological horizon was identified across the development area concentrated at the eastern side and south western corner of the site. Towards the east a small collection of ditches, pits and postholes were recorded and one ditch containing a large assemblage of Middle Iron Age pottery. The south-west corner contained a group of intercutting pits, from which several prehistoric struck flints were recovered, and a shallow ditch that held a single sherd of Middle Iron Age pottery. The pit group is unusual as their sizes and fill types are fairly atypical in comparison to the rest of the archaeology. There is a possibility that this group of features represents evidence of modern disturbance filled with an imported soil. The archaeological horizon across the development area is generally only shallowly surviving and it is probable that the lack of archaeology towards the central area is due to loss through truncation rather than an absence of archaeological activity (S1)

2015: Evaluation was carried out in advance of a planning application for a new school, which identified deposits dating to the Iron Age and post-medieval periods. The presence of two ditches containing assemblages of mid Iron Age pottery a further evidence of dispersed settlement activity in the area (S2).

2015: Excavation revealed mainly Early/Middle Iron Age activity on the site, dating to c.500-300 BC. The character and density of the features indicates probably little more than the outskirts of a small farmstead to the east of the site. The domestic nature of the features is deomstrated by the vessel type pottery used typically for food preparation, serving and storage, as well as evidence of textile working in the form of loomweight fragments. The settlement is represented by the remains of four smaller square or rectangular four-post structures, some pits, some external firepits and a substantial boundary which is suspected to extend well beyond the site to north-west and south-east. The excavation also revealed a Roman pit which contained a single piece of Roman pottery, as well as a large post-medieval/modern ditch which corresponds with the land divisions on 1813 tithe map of Rougham. Two large irregular features near the original WW2 runway were recorded. A section across one of the features appeared to contain several individual pits and a large drainage channel with a concrete pipe, related to the former runway (S3).

2015: Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2015 (S4).