Monument record RGH 096 - Suffolk Business Park, Rougham Site, Bury St Edmunds -Field 1, Phase 1

2017: Evaluation revealed a surface find assemblage of worked flint . Several ditches located to the north-east and to the south-east contained an assemblage of Iron Age and Romano-British domestic pottery suggesting the features likely represent evidence for rural settlement within the vicinity. A number of medieval and post-medieval ditches and pits were also found. One of the projected ditch alignments is visible on aerial and historic mapping. The medieval features are relatively close to the medieval Battlies Green hamlet which could indicate that they are probably in the wider agricultural hinterland. Two large quarry pits were identified; many chalk and gravel extraction pits have been recorded in the area. It is also possible that these large pits may represent naturally infilled sinkholes, caused by subsidence of the natural chalk geology. Modern pit features were also identified which are likely to be associated with the functional use of RAF Bury St Edmunds (Rougham) during WW2. modern service trenches and building debris associated with the functional use of the airfield were identified; a former upstanding structure is visible on aerial mapping within the vicinity. The partial exposure of a large circular anomaly identified during the geophysical survey was found in Field 3 and is likely to represent a backfilled pit or bomb crater containing WW2 airfield debris. The feature was located in close proximity to former aircraft dispersal pints or hard-standings. Analysis of RAF vertical aerial photography of the airfield has shown a concentration of former Nissan huts located to the south in Field 4. Field 4 contained a small pit filled with several fragments of heavily corroded modern debris with charcoal and is likely to represent a FIDO fire pit used for the dispersal of thick fog. Several isolated by undated shallow pits and hearths were also found in Field 1, 2 and 4 (S1-S2)

Descriptions of some flint finds are broad, dating to a specific period bracket is ill-advised. However, they may be later Prehistoric, based on details of discovery, (S3).