Monument record BRG 128 - Roman Occupation on Land Adjacent to Primary School, Great Barton

Four trenches were excavated across the development area targeting the footprint of the proposed houses, garages and site access. A focus of Roman activity was identified with an assemblage of twenty-six sherds of Roman pottery, a single piece of fired clay, nine fragments of animal bone, a nail and a coin recovered from ditches and a pit. Results from environmental samples taken from features indicate that domestic, agricultural, and perhaps light industrial activities were taking place on site during the Roman period. Although the pottery assemblage can only be broadly dated to the Roman period due to a lack of diagnostic material, the discovery of a coin dating to Antoninus Pius (AD 138-161) suggests the activity on the site could be during the earlier part of the Roman period. Other finds included an Early-Middle Iron Age copper alloy bow brooch dating between c.450 - 300 BC and a single post-medieval clay pipe stem recovered from the topsoil (S1).

An archaeological monitoring was carried out. The site was divided into two separate areas: Area 1, which included all the groundworks relating to the foundation trenches for the dwelling and Area 2 comprising the area for the swimming pool. Archaeological features were uncovered and investigated during the work, producing numerous pottery sherds, animal bone fragments and iron nails. Small finds, including Romano-British coins, were found either in the features themselves or scattered within the topsoil/subsoil deposits of the wider area. Assessment of the artefacts indicated two phases of occupation. Evidence for Romano-British activity was limited to a single pit located at the western extent of the site, although residual artefacts were recovered from most of the features. The pottery indicated dates from the mid-to-late 1st century to the later 3rd to 4th centuries. The second phase of activity dated from the medieval to post-medieval periods and was represented by three ditches and a pond or pit, possibly associated with the 17th to 19th century forge located directly to the southeast of site.
Although limited in scope, the results of the observation provide further information regarding the character of the archaeological landscape both in the Romano-British and medieval/post-medieval periods (S2).

A programme of archaeological excavation was carried out. Four copper-alloy coins were recovered from subsoil during the stripping of overlying topsoil/subsoil overburden, which were provisionally dated to the 2nd/3rd centuries. Unfortunately, they could not be associated with any of the underlying features. A greater concentration of activity was recorded on the north of the site, as suggested by an evaluation excavation carried out by Cotswold Archaeology in June 2021. The ditches encountered during the evaluation continued along the same alignments and cut or were cut by other linear features. Pottery from the earlier phase suggested a date in the mid-to-late 1st century with the later phase dated to the later 3rd to 4th centuries. The pottery showed a mix of utilitarian types and tableware suggesting more than a basic rural site.
Animal bone, ceramic building material, oyster shell, unidentified copper pieces and lava stone were also recovered (S2).

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2022