Monument record BRM 134 - Late Iron Age/Romano-British settlement and WW2 pits at A140 Eye Airfield Roundabout (North)

Evaluation works revealed a single Late Iron Age/Romano British ditch that contained a large assemblage of pottery, a medieval ditch, and a post medieval ditch. Modern pits are likely to relate to when the site formed part of the WW2 airfield of Eye. Undated ditches may relate to an earlier fieldsystem of Late Iron Age/Romano British date or they may represent the remains of a field system of medieval or post-medieval date (S1).

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2018. (S2)

2020: An archaeological excavation was undertaken as part of road improvements to the A140 between Brome and Eye. The excavation area was located at the W end of the development, targeted on a Late Iron Age/Roman ditch containing a large assemblage of pottery, identified in a previous evaluation of the site. The excavation and evaluation identified three periods of activity in the Early Roman period, post-medieval and modern periods. The earliest finds from the site are two sherds of Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age pottery and a few flint flakes found as residual finds within later features. Settlement evidence of the Early Roman period is defined by an enclosure ditch and single pit that contained a large assemblage of pottery. The enclosure appears to have been cut by the line of the A140 (the former Roman road), thus suggesting that the use of the enclosure may date to the Late Iron Age and that it was filled in during the Early Roman period, immediately before the Roman road was constructed. The presence of post-medieval ditches with limited finds suggests the site was located in open fields during this time and the presence of modern pits likely relate to improvements to the A140, or to the construction and demolition of Eye Airfield prior to and after WW2. Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2020 (S3). Full report to follow.