Monument record MRM 172 - Medieval Ridge and furrow and Post Medieval ditches, quarry and a bomb crater and undated features, East Anglia One Site 28

Archaeological Excavation of site 28a of the East Anglia One Offshore Windfarm project revealed a multiple phase site with Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman, Medieval and Post Medieval evidence. The Medieval phase of the site was represented by three linear features running north to south in the central and eastern parts of the site. These were identified as furrows from a ridge and furrow field system.

The Post medieval period was represented by four boundary ditches identifiable on historic Ordnance survey mapping. The dominate feature within the western portion of the excavation area was an irregular shaped quarry pit 30m long, 25m wide and 0.58m deep. This was visible on aerial photography and on the second edition Ordnance survey with metalwork and 20th century flower pots being recovered form the backfill deposits. The final feature was a large bomb crater dating to the Second World War.

The final features of the site were all undated consisting of ditches and pits close to the first enclosure .Two feature clusters were identified, the first being in the northern part of the site. These appeared natural in origin and consisted of a possible post hole, and three ditches. The second feature cluster was on the southern extremity of the siter and comprised seven irregular undated features including a short ditch truncated by pits (S1).

The site revealed evidence for near continuous multi-phase domestic occupation extending from the Late Neolithic into the Early Iron Age which culminated in the establishment of an enclosed farmstead settlement during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. The majority of the archaeological evidence was predominately dated to a period of Bronze Age and Iron Age activity associated with domestic and localised agricultural land-use, however, evidence of domestic use begins in the Neolithic. Sporadic Roman activity in the form of a boundary ditch bisected the site, whilst a north and south boundary ditch complex and quarry pit located at the south western margin of the site pointed towards later successive phases of post-medieval and 19 th century land use and mineral and aggregate extraction (S2).