Strip Map And Sample at Land off Horncastle Road, Wragby, Lincolnshire

A programme of archaeological mitigation works comprising a monitoring and recording watching brief followed by an archaeological strip, map, and record, on Land off Horncastle Road, Wragby, Lincolnshire, was undertaken as a condition of planning consent for a residential development In Area 1, towards the northeast of the development area, the remains of two Roman tile kilns were exposed indicating Roman industrial activity took place at the site from the late-3rd to 4th century. There was no evidence for domestic activity, with just a few ditches and a cluster of postholes in the southern half of the area producing sherds of pottery, mostly very abraded sherds from jars rather than domestic cooking pots or vessels. It appears the kilns were used for the production of tile, brick, tegula, as well as box flue, imbrex, and possibly also bessalis for a pilae stack, probably for use in a relatively high-status building nearby. In Area 2, towards the southwest of the development area, the earliest evidence of activity was in the form of residual flintwork dating to the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic. More substantial evidence of mid to late Iron Age activity was revealed in the form of a series of ring ditches associated with pits and postholes bounded by a large enclosure ditch extending beyond the perimeters of the development area to the southwest.