Monument record MKE 051 - Romano-British features and settlement, Land at Monks Eleigh Primary School (BA) EXC

2020: Archaeological evaluation identified features and deposits of archaeological interest, with all finds recorded indicating a broadly Romano-British date. These features were concentrated in the western half of the field and comprised a shallow gully and pit within Trench 001, a possible ring-gully and ditch in Trench 002, a ditch in Trench 003 and two intercutting ditches extending through Trenches 004, 005, and 006 (S1).

Of the nine trenches opened, six contained features and deposits of archaeological significance, with all containing finds indicating a Romano-British date. The identified features were concentrated in the W half of the field and comprised gullies, ditches and a pit. Subsequent excavation revealed peripheral evidence for Romano-British settlement activity likely relating to the presumed high-status structure, potentially a villa, identified to the E of the site in the 1940s.
The ceramic evidence dated activity to the Late Iron Age and mid- to late 1st/early 2nd centuries AD. Artefactual evidence included a fragment of tessera and pieces of hypocaust, other ceramic building material and three examples of copper-alloy tweezers. Concentrations of dumped oyster shell and faunal remains implied a settlement with an established agrarian and trade economy, while the palaeoenvironmental analysis indicated a mixed grassland environment that was mostly dry with damp and shaded ditches close to an area of human activity. No structural remains were encountered, but the formation of the ditches and pits coupled with the character of the artefactual and faunal assemblages suggested this had a remained an area very much on the periphery of domestic settlement. The lack of evidence for activity would appear to suggest a shift or cessation of settlement after the beginning of the 2nd century (S2).