Monument record BRF 159 - Bronze Age funerary activity and a Saxon settlement, Land off Loraine Way, Bramford

2018: Headland Archaeology undertook an archaeological evaluation in advance of a residential development. The evaluation identified a possible Bronze Age ring-ditch along with some pits and ditches that may have been associated with early Saxon settlement within the site boundary in an area that was not evaluated. A field system of possible Saxon/medieval date was also identified. Much of the archaeological material at the site was sealed by a thick deposit of colluvium which derived from agricultural activity on the site since the post-Roman period. Modern field boundaries and allotments were also evident in the archaeological record. (S1)

2022: An archaeological excavation targeted the results of preceding geophysical survey and trial-trench evaluation in 2018; three areas in the centre and south of the site (with a combined area of 1.95ha) were investigated. This included the location of a ring-ditch (BRF 003), with a second northerly ring-ditch left in situ beyond the excavation areas, both of which were identified as cropmarks.
The earliest tangible evidence of occupation on the site was identified in the Prehistoric period, with a low density scatter of pits occurring in Area 1 and Area 3 of early to middle Neolithic date, as well as broadly prehistoric. A large ring-ditch was identified within Area 3 and, although no firm dating evidence or burial was recovered, is posited to be the remains of a round barrow of earlier Bronze Age construction.
Unenclosed, dispersed early medieval (5th–7th century) settlement activity was evidenced by up to 17 sunken-featured buildings, two possible post-built buildings, associated pitting and artefact/debris-rich soil layers. These layers are posited to comprise levelled/spread midden deposits that were preserved in the tops of natural hollows in the landscape. They contained significant quantities of both early Saxon and reused Roman material, including animal bone and metalwork that attest to a variety of domestic and craft activities being undertaken within the settlement. Some high status metalwork items are included in the recovered assemblage. It is further posited that the Bronze Age barrow was reused in this period, with early Saxon material recovered from the ring-ditch upper fills.
During the high medieval period a multi-phase rectilinear field system was established, aligned approximately ENE/WSW, and positioned perpendicular to the River Gipping. The positioning of a field corner directly over the prehistoric barrow remains hints that the field system may have been laid out with reference to it. A further part of this fieldscape had previously been found in excavations to the south-west in 2016–17. Other elements seem to be the precursor of the northern boundary of the Bishop’s Hop Ground, depicted on the 1848 Bramford Tithe Map.
Post-medieval and modern remains included a few field boundaries, one of which persuisted into the modern period and was incorporated into the northern boundary of allotment gardens, shown on the 1926 Ordnance Survey map and on 1945 aerial photographs (S4).
Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2022 (S3)