Monument record MDM 114 - Medieval croft or field system.

A croft or field system of probable medieval date, possibly containing evidence for peat cutting, is visible to the north of Withersdale Cross, Mendham parish, as cropmarks on aerial photographs, centred approximately on TM 271814. The fields or crofts appear to be aligned on Withersdale Road, but fragments of road or track may also be visible to the eastern end of the possible crofts, possibly running alongside the course of a former waterway, now also visible as a cropmark. A possible second phase of land division may be indicated by the presence of a linear cropmark crossing the south west area of main field system, at circa TM270813. In the medieval period Peat cutting was a closely controlled activity, and in this instance it may have been controlled by St Mary's Priory, to the northwest (see MDM 005). (S1, S2)

Magnetometer survey of crop mark areas showed two overlapping settlements, one of them with a path or track aligned on the entrance to Mendham Priory, a few hundred metres away. Test excavations showed 12th- and 13th century pottery, possibly 14th century, all at a depth of 1 to 1.2m with a single sand and silt layer above. The date of the second settlement, whether earlier or later, is not determined but a tentative assessment is that it might be earlier.
Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2015 (S3).