Monument record HRK 098 - Bronze Age ditch and post-medieval ditches, Proposed Agricultural Reservoir, Nether Hall Farm

March 2018: The detailed fluxgate gradiometer survey recorded a narrow range of geophysical anomalies, indicative of archaeological pits, geological anomalies and areas of magnetic disturbance. The results of the non-intrusive survey reveal a low potential for magnetic anomalies of an archaeological origin. (S1)

May 2018: Archaeological evaluation identified predominantly post-medieval field boundary and drainage ditches. Two large undated features in the north-western corner of the site were not clearly identifiable, but the later of these could represent a former pond, given its humic fill and proximity to both a north-south watercourse and an existing pond just outside of the proposed development area. Prehistoric activity was identified adjacent to the southern boundary of the site where a probable Bronze Age ditch was recorded close to a large shallow ditch or natural hollow filled with heat-altered flint rich material and a silty fill containing Late Bronze age pottery. It is possible that at least some of the undated ditches elsewhere on the site which had sterile, leached fills and were sealed by a layer of subsoil, were also of prehistoric date. Activity associated with a disused gravel quarry marked on historic maps appears to have had some impact on the north eastern edge of the site, but the full extent of this is unclear (S2).

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2018. (S3)