Monument record FLN 009 - Multi-period features, Former Tarmac Quarry, Flixton

2003:Evaluation identified deposits relating to a number of archaeological periods. The earliest features were sixteen pits of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age date. Superficially these features exhibited a similar character to others excavated at Flixton, although the included Grooved Ware pottery was of a different type (Clacton sub-style rather than Durrington Walls sub-style) which could be contemporaneous with or slightly earlier (c.2900 BC) than the previously excavated
assemblages. These may represent structured deposits, with flint tools and pottery sherds deliberately placed within their fills, although the worked flint assemblage did contain a relatively high proportion of general knapping waste, as opposed to worked pieces. It can, therefore, be argued that these deposits were generated by more domestic rather than specialised activities.
A second prehistoric phase, dating to the Late Bronze Age, was represented by four pits, although they did contain c.80% (by weight & number of sherds) of the whole prehistoric pottery assemblage. One of the pits contained a small amount of calcines bone and could possibly be a cremation pit. These features were located in the same general area of the site as the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age features. In addition, the presence of a relatively large quantity of worked flint and pottery within the topsoil and, more significantly, in pockets of surviving subsoil is suggestive of a generally high level of prehistoric activity. It seems likely, therefore, that more superficial deposits of this date have been truncated by agricultural activity.
While no actual features of medieval date were recorded, the alignment of the pre-mid 19th century route between Flixton and Homersfield was preserved by two parallel ditches that may have flanked a hedgerow on the northern side of the road.
The majority of the archaeological deposits, however, were of post-medieval date. The earliest phase of which included the approximately 30 metres by 30 metres square ditched enclosure and its internal building, defined by a 6 metres by 6 metres square footing of rammed brick and tile. This feature was interpreted as a folly in the parkland associated with Flixton Hall and was probably erected in the 18th century although the dating evidence was ambiguous and an earlier, possibly 11th century, date is also considered as a possibility. Other features attributed to the earlier post-medieval phase were a small group of pits that were thought to represent formal tree-plantings and the redundancy of a ditch which
itself appeared to relate to an earlier, possibly medieval, rectilinear field system.
A second post-medieval phase was associated with a major landscape upheaval in Flixton Park undertaken during the middle of the 19th century when the Flixton to Homersfield road was re-routed to the north to its present location. A tree-lined avenue was also planted at this time, the western side of which was recorded in the excavation area.
The third post-medieval phase related to the l" World War when a large area of Flixton Park was given over to military training the surviving evidence for which is backfilled trenches and latrine pits (S1).

2011: In addition to a few pits of later Neolithic/earlier Bronze Age date, prehistoric features included four post structures of indeterminate Bronze Age or Iron Age date and two unurned cremations: one radiocarbon dated to the Late Neolithic and the other to the Middle - Late Bronze Age. A single sherd of Roman pottery was recovered from a possible four post-structure. A group of eight small Early Anglo-Saxon pits were thought to represent occupation deposits that may have been responsible for the generation of a broadly contemporary cemetery known from c.250m to the south-east of the FLN 009 site. Previously partially excavated in 2003, the remaining part of a square enclosure ditch was recorded. No further dating evidence was recovered and its original interpretation as a possible folly structure associated with Flixton Hall and dating from sometime during the period spanning the 17th to early 19th century remains valid. Other post-medieval features related to the World War I training camps known to have taken place in Flixton Park and to quarrying activities (S2).

Report on the Petological Analysis of Grooved Ware and other Later Neolithic and Earlier Bronze Age Pottery from Flixton Park (S4).

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2003 (S5).

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2011 (S6)