Monument record WIX 021 - Two Roman Settlements at Kirtling Green to Wixoe Pipeline, Fields 4 & 5

Excavation identified at least two Roman settlements comprising posthole structures, ditches, pits and a trackway (S1).

Two Iron Age to Roman settlements were identified 180m apart. It is possible these could represent the remains of a single dispersed settlement. Farmstead one extended over a distance of 500m and may have been abandoned by the 2nd century AD, contemporary to the occupation of Wixoe Roman Town. The settlement appears to have origins in the Late Iron Age represented by a large pit 5.5m wide and 0.7m deep containing a single potter sherd, to the north was a undated curvilinear ditch but by a roman ditch. A possible structure covering an area of 4m x 3m and comprising eight post holes was located 250m to the north of the ring gully. The early Roman phase of the farmsteads was characterised by a number of boundary and settlement related ditches, several poorly dated post hole structures and a scatter of pits. Finds from the features included lava quern, animal bone, pottery and artefacts including copper alloy pin and a double ended bone bin beater. Farmstead 2 was located to the north of farmstead 1 and extended across a distance of 100m. The earliest elements of this farmstead may date to the Iron Age and comprised two segmented curvilinear ditches containing prehistoric pottery scraps. To the south of these was a line of thirteen postholes on a north-north-west to south-south-east alignment, probably representing an Early Roman fence or corral rather than a building. From the postholes a 1st century bow brooch, part of an Early Roman storage jar and a probable cast copper alloy figure was recovered. To the south of the structure was an undated ditch aligned north-east to south-west which may have demarcated the southern limit of the settlement (S2).