Monument record MNL 747 - Roman settlement and Medieval pits and ditches, Beaches Road,West Row

2015: A metal detecting survey and evaluation trenches revealed evidence of a defined area of Roman settlement, broadly corresponding to a coin scatter, as well as a zone of medieval activity at the far western side of the site. A background scatter of prehistoric pottery and worked flint was also recovered.

The core of the Roman settlement included a network of inter-cutting ditches, rubbish pits, a possible well and a metalled surface; the metalled surface was covered by a 0.4m thick deposit of artefact-rich 'dark earth'. These features and deposits yielded a substantial number of Roman finds, including pottery, animal bone, roof tile, floor tile and box-flue tile suggesting the presence of a structure with underfloor heating in the vicinity. The finds also included worked stone, mortar, painted plaster, glass and metal finds. The quantity and range of artefacts point towards a relatively wealthy or high status farmstead-type settlement, dating from the 2nd to 4th century AD. An articulated inhumation was also discovered but left unexcavated.

Evidence for medieval activity was found to the west of the Roman occupation along the frontage of Beeches Road, which included a series of shallow pits and ditches yielding the occasional fragment of medieval pottery. A scatter of largely undated linear ditches, gullies and the occasional pit were also found and probably relate to the agricultural use of the land (S1).

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2015 (S2).