Monument record ADT 099 - Large and multi-phase area of field system, trackways and enclosures of possible later prehistoric to Roman date

April 2016. Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Beauty National Mapping Programme.
The cropmarks of a large and multi-phase area of field systems, trackways and enclosures of probable later prehistoric to Roman date, although some elements may be medieval to post medieval in date, are visible on aerial photographs (S1-S21). Parts of this large cropmark site were previously recorded under ADT 037, ADT 006, HLY 030. Adjacent cropmarks sites, most notably ADT 035, ADT 001, ADT 090, HLY 158, would appear to be broadly contemporary with significantly parts of this site. Features recorded under ADT 098 & ADT 100 are likely to also represent parts of this site.

Within this wider area of field systems, trackways and boundaries would appear to be areas of settlement, most likely small farmsteads. Two rectilinear enclosures on the eastern edge of the site at Cedarwood have the appearance of possible settlement enclosures. Another possible farmstead may be identified to the south of Trotters Farm. The nearby cropmark sites of ADT 001 and ADT 035 also contain settlement enclosures contemporary with at least some of the main phases of the field system. However it must be noted that later prehistoric field systems may be accompanied by unenclosed and open settlement sites that may be hard to identify from aerial photography alone. A number of small ring ditches are recorded within this area – which may represent the remains of round houses. The larger examples have been recorded individually – for example ADT 017, ADT 107-108, HLY 152. Although admittedly fragmentary, some parts of these field systems are coaxial in layout. Field systems of this type are increasingly being recognised as being Bronze Age, more specifically Middle Bronze Age, in date (S24). It is therefore feasible that significant parts of this site may originate during this period.

Some key parts of this landscape have clear relationships with boundaries and routes depicted on the Ordnance Survey First Edition map (S22) and including field boundaries that remain in use as late as the 1940s. Most notably the trackway running south from Trotters Farm. This route appears to initially follow the line of the Shottisham, Hollesley and Alderton parish boundary and runs broadly parallel to the Woodbridge Road for much of it’s course. It seems likely that this trackway represents an earlier line of this road – one which has gone out of use prior to the Hodskinson’s map of 1783 (S23) – where the route of the road looks comparable to the modern one. Some parts of this multiple period site run broadly parallel and perpendicular to this track and are potentially later in the sequence, perhaps being medieval in date. However it is entirely likely that the route is one of greater antiquity and it must be noted that it also shares alignments and relationships with the coaxial parts of the field system, which appear to pre-date much of the surrounding landscape and are assumed to be Bronze Age to Roman in date. Although it worth noting that the Hollesley/Alderton parish boundary runs parallel to the main axis of this early field system.

Without further analysis, scientific dating and historic map regression it is hard to fully understand the phasing and dating of this landscape. Initial interpretations would suggest that it represents several phases of fields, major routeways and boundaries at least large parts of which are thought to have their origins in the Bronze Age and/or Roman period, but with key boundaries and routeways persisting into the medieval to post medieval period.
S. Horlock (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 20th April 2016.