Monument record KDG 050 - An undated ring ditch and Roman features at Land at Great Wilsey Park, Kedington

2016: Trench evaluation comprised 314 trenches. Middle Iron Age remains were concentrated around the central area with a ring ditch and a possible enclosure within which may have been the remains of a kiln/hearth structure with associated ashy deposits. A number of isolated Iron Age pits were also found in the south-western part of the site and two possible field systems in the central-western and south-western areas. The pottery assemblage comprises domestic forms but the number of bowls hints at perhaps a slightly higher status site than a lone farmstead. Medieval activity consisting of ditches and pits of the 12th to early 13th century was concentrated in the south-eastern area. The moderate quantity of medieval pottery recovered from the site implies a settlement within the immediate environs of the site, which tallies with the location of both Wilsey Manor Hall and Little Wilsey moated site. The total absence of late medieval pottery is perhaps consistent with an abandonment of Wilsey Hall Manor. Overall the medieval landscape appears to be that of farm and pasture land either associated with, or owned by, the moated sites of Wilsey Hall Manor located close to the centre of the site and the unscheduled Little Wilsey moated site located to the south-east of the site boundary, with a possible area of common ground ridge and furrow agriculture taking place to the south.
Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2016 (S2)

2017: Phase 2 of the evaluation revealed part of an undated probable ring ditch and scattered undated and Roman ditches and gullies. Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2017 (S1). Full report to follow.

Archaeological remains were concentrated around the central areas, with prehistoric and Iron Age activity represented by a number of isolated pits in the south and east along with two possible field systems in the central-western and south-eastern areas. A possible small industrial kiln and enclosure lay in the western-central area and a possible dwelling and hearth were observed in the central eastern area. Medieval (12th and 13th century) activity was concentrated in two distinct areas and was probably associated with the surrounding landscape of two nearby moated sites. No later medieval activity was present, and only limited post-medieval activity was identified. No deposits of conclusively Roman date were observed. A large number of trenches contained either no archaeological remains, or only post-medieval/modern land boundaries as depicted on the 1881 and 1905 Ordnance Survey Historic maps (S3).