Monument record EYE 123 - Iron Age, Roman Anglo Saxon, Medieval and Post-medieval features, Land Eye Airfield

2015: The earliest recorded features lay to the east in parcel 13A, and comprise six postholes, ascribed to a possible Early Neolithic settlement site. Later Prehistoric, Early and Middle Iron Age occupation was present in two forms, the first being a trackway aligned north to south, for which there was evidence of metalling in the form of a remnant of a cobbled surface, and also in the form of a series of discrete and dispersed pits and postholes. Both of these were encountered to the west of the site in Parcel 13A. To the east of the site, in parcel 13A, were three graves and a horse burial which are potentially of Anglo-Saxon date. These may form a small burial ground for a family group, associated with the settlement site located to the south at Hartismere School. Later medieval activity is present in parcels 13A, B and C. In the eastern side of the site, in parcels 13B and C, the remains of two phases of field boundaries were present, with a pre-enclosure field boundary recorded. A later field boundary ditch, dating at the earliest to the 18th century and subsequently removed, was revealed as a ditch aligned east to west which partitioned the current field into smaller parcels
of land.
Roman ditch located to the southern part of Parcel 13A. The ditch is on a west-south-west to east-north-east alignment. To the south of this ditch lay a pit. The pit is filled with metal working debris suggesting that iron working was occurring within close proximity to the site. It is likely that these features are associated to the Roman settlement to the south.
Rectangular field boundary was revealed during the geophysical survey of the site. The evaluation trenches showed the field boundary to be of Medieval date. The course of the boundary slightly meanders along the straight edge which is consistent with it relating to the pre-enclosure farming system. The 1839 Tithe map shows that the fields were sub-divided by east to west aligned field boundaries, which have now been removed. Evidence for this is found in the northwest of the site (S1).

2017: Evaluation revealed 3 19th/20th century field drains, a small pit with two sherds of medieval pottery, an undated shallow ditch and a thin scatter of Roman pottery sherds and medieval pottery (S2).

See Also Prehistoric and Anglo Saxon

A second phase of evaluation was undertaken across three fields, following on from an initial phase in 2015. The western field contained the remnants of post-medieval field systems, the boundaries of which were depicted on historical maps of the period. Parts of a Roman field system were identified in the central and eastern fields.
Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2022 (S3)

The earliest recorded features comprised six postholes that may relate to a possible Early Neolithic settlement site. Early and Middle Iron Age occupation was represented by a north to south aligned trackway, including a remnant of cobbled surface, and a scatter of pits and postholes. To the east of the site were three graves and a horse burial which are potentially of Anglo-Saxon date. These may form a small burial ground for a family group, associated with the settlement site located to the south at Hartismere School. Later medieval activity was revealed in the eastern side of the site where the remains of two phases of field boundaries were present. A later field boundary ditch, dating at the earliest to the 18th century, was also revealed. Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2015 (S4)