Monument record OUL 052 - OUTLINE RECORD: Post Medieval field boundary ditches on Land off Lime Avenue and Church Lane Oulton, EVAL (WAA)

Evaluation revealed a series of N–S oriented post-medieval strip field boundary ditches, which form a continuation of the field system recorded in the S field in 2022. A modern field boundary present on the 1842 tithe map was also exposed in two adjacent trenches (S1).

The archaeological evaluation, which comprised the excavation on thirty-nine trenches, revealed a series of pre-modern features. Early Bronze Age occupation was evidenced by two adjacent postholes containing Beaker sherds, while two adjacent pits in another trench contained late Bronze to Iron Age pottery. An intact saltern structure of probable late Iron Age to Roman date was also found, and two adjacent parallel ditches containing Belgic pottery are likely to have been contemporary. In the north-east, expansive medieval to post-medieval field systems dating from the 13th-15th century onwards – along with clusters of undated but potentially contemporaneous features, mainly pits – suggest the nearby presence of agricultural activity potentially related to a farmstead. A probable colluvium-infilled palaeochannel of likely post-glacial origin, and a cluster of undated pits, postholes and ditches were also encountered.
Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2022 (S2)