Monument record IPS 722 - OUTLINE RECORD: Two phases of Roman activity, FORMER FIRE STATION, IPSWICH.

An excavation over c. 1500m2 was conducted in advance of residential development. Sparse finds of worked flint and prehistoric pottery attest to the earliest activity at the site. Though little can usefully be deduced, such artefacts at least identify a presence at this time.
The most informative archaeological remains date to the early Roman period when apparent de novo settlement with enclosed farmsteads appear to have been occupied over two distinct phases. In Phase 1, dating from perhaps the mid 1st to Early 2nd century AD, remains of two overlying circular structures and a rectilinear enclosure aligned on a broadly north-west to south-east axis were present. Fills of the circular structures contained fragments of storage jar but little else, and whether these are wholly domestic or utilitarian structures is unclear. Their form would seem to demonstrate the continuity of a ‘native‘ building style into the early Roman period. The cultivation of the surrounding heavy land for wheat is hinted at by the environmental evidence, and a surface with remains of spelt wheat, a small hearth/oven and lava quern fragments is interpreted as a grain processing area. A small number of other structural features, perhaps of agricultural purpose, and a small number of pits also belong to this phase.
In the early 2nd century AD a recasting of boundaries occurred with enclosure ditches now arranged on uniform north-south to east-west alignments. This second phase of Roman activity might relate to the posited early 2nd century AD construction of a villa at Castle Hill. Two foci of activity in this phase were identified; one centred on a possible square or rectangular structure in the north-east, a second in the south-west, its presence inferred by cultural material recovered from enclosure ditches. Fragments of fired clay loom weight from the site suggest weaving as a craft activity, and possible structured deposits were also present.
It is argued that soil impoverishment due to cultivation might be one factor in the decline of the site from the mid 2nd century AD, when ceramic evidence indicates activity at the site ceased. Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2013 (S1)