Monument record BAA 048 - Iron Age Pits, undated ditch and prehistoric pottery and Post Medieval field boundary on Land north of The Broadway

An archaeological evaluation identified a colluvial deposit in the western part of the site. A total of 21 sherds of Post-Deverel-Rimbury-tradition pottery and a sizable quantity of struck flint were recovered from this deposit. A significant amount of worked flint was also recovered from the plough-soil, with later Iron Age pottery recovered from two of the evaluation trenches. This material is thought to derive from a Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age settlement previously identified to the south of the site. Two small pits, in the northern and western parts of the site, respectively, contained a small assemblage of Iron Age pottery, animal bone and fired clay. Two undated ditches were recorded in the north-eastern part of the site. Their alignments do not correspond with medieval or later field boundaries in the area, suggesting that they might be part of a prehistoric or Roman field system, although this could not be substantiated by the evaluation. In the eastern part of the site, two parallel ditches, spaced 10m apart, are thought to represent a droveway. Pottery dating from the 11th to 13th centuries was recovered from one of the ditches. A north- to south-aligned field boundary ditch containing sherds of 19th century pottery was identified in the centre of the site; this is depicted on the 1884–86 OS map of the area. Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2020 (S1).

The evaluation identified a colluvial deposit towards the base of the slope at the far western end of the site. Later prehistoric pottery and struck flint were recovered from this deposit and a significant quantity of worked flint was recovered from the ploughsoil in trenches located in this area. This material probably derives from the Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age settlement activity that has previously been investigated to the south of the site. Two small pits were also identified in the northern and western parts of the site, from which a small assemblage of Iron Age pottery, animal bone and fired clay was recovered. In the northeastern part of the site were two undated ditches. Their alignments did not correspond with medieval or later boundaries identified within the site, suggesting that they may form part of an earlier Roman or prehistoric field system, although this could not be substantiated by finds assemblaages. At the eastern end of the site were two parallel ditches, spaced c. 10m apart and aligned north-east to south-west, possibly forming a droveway or track. Sherds of pottery dating from the 11th to the early 13th century was recovered from one of the ditches and its recut, along with fragments of fired clay and animal bone. A post-medieval field boundary ditch on a north to south alignment was encountered near the centre of the site. This feature, which is shown on the 1884-1886 Ordnance Survey map of the site, contained sherds of late 19th-century pottery and a ceramic land drain had been placed at its base (S2).

A Late Iron Age pit and two undated pits previously excavated in Trench 10 were relocated, and four other possible postholes or small pits were identified c. 10m to the north-west of the trench. The extent of a layer of colluvium at the western end of the site, previously encountered in Trenches 11 and 12, was confirmed, and a series of six hand-dug test pits were excavated down to the geological substrate. In the evaluation, investigation of the colluvium had resulted in the recovery of a small assemblage of Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age pottery, but no pottery of a similar age was found in the test pits, the only finds being a single sherd of 17th-century pottery and abraded brick and tile fragments of Roman and post-medieval date, along with pieces of residual struck flint (including five tools). The mixed age of the material in the colluvium suggests that the prehistoric pottery, which was recovered from an area to the south-west of the excavation area, is probably residual and may have been imported, possibly in a dump of soil that may have been deposited in the corner of the field to infill the natural hollow in which the colluvium had accumulated (S3).