Monument record ERL 250 - OUTLINE RECORD: RAFL Soakaway replacement (SA) MON

Undated ditches (but probably Roman) and pits found during monitoring alongside Rochester Road (S1).

2017: Several soakaways were monitored across the airbase which revealed further evidence of prehistoric, Roman and possibly Anglo-Saxon activity, whilst also highlighting preserved soil profiles in some areas. One of the Rochester Road soakaways revealed two definite cut features; a probable ditch and pit/posthole of probable Roman or Anglo-Saxon date. Soakaways close to Building 1159 produced several ditches, pits and finds. The ditches are interpreted partly as field and paddock enclosures, as well as possible droveways, whilst also functioning to drain the area that was clearly quite wet throughout the Roman occupation. A pit here produced a large assemblage of Iron Age pottery, as well as fired clay fragments, thought to be structural, and the remains of a loomweight. Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2017 (S2).