Monument record THD 074 - OUTLINE RECORD: Multi period features at Castle Hill Farm Castle Hill Thorndon (BRIT) EVAL

Evaluation encountered 6 phases of activity, within the mid and E areas of the site, all directly N of a large NW–SE-aligned paleochannel within the far S portion of the site. It is likely that domestic enclosures dating to the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age were established directly N of the paleochannel present within the dry valley. This activity seems to have spread slightly E during the Iron Age and further N upslope during the early Romano-British period, with possible ladder settlements becoming established and further concreting of activity on into the Roman period. This spread of activity focussed from the paleochannel may represent a period of waterlogging of the S portion of the site, necessitating the move to the slightly higher ground to its N. The absence of Saxon and medieval finds and features may be indicative of the area becoming agricultural in nature, with later post-medieval activity evidenced by a 19th-century field boundary. Post-medieval/modern agricultural activity has truncated several features within the higher elevated N bounds of the site, with several coins spanning the Roman period being recovered (including one minted in Egypt during Julius Caesar’s reign), and pottery fragments of a reasonably high status (S1).