Land south of Newmarket Road, Westley, Bury St Edmunds: An Archaeological Evaluation

The evaluation consisted of the excavation of 170no. 30m trenches and 2no. 15m trenches (a total of 5160m of trench at 2m wide), distributed across the site, some targeting subsurface anomalies identified by the geophysical survey and others sampling apparently 'blank' areas of the site. The trenches provided a 4% sample of the overall 24.9ha site. A scatter of Neolithic and Bronze Age worked flint, mostly residual, was recovered by the evaluation, indicating transient activity on the land during these periods. A small number of pottery sherds of a similar date were also recovered from pits and natural features, but much of this is also likely to be residual and few, if any features could conclusively be dated to the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. Evidence for predominantly Middle Iron Age activity was identified in the south-west corner of the site, in the form of a group of three large pits. One of these pits was excavated and found to contain 'placed' deposits, consisting of cattle skulls, the articulated remains of a piglet, a fragment of human bone and an assemblage of pottery dated to 500-300 BC. The most extensive remains investigated by the evaluation consisted of a Roman ditch system forming a complex of enclosures and associated activity. Although many of the enclosures probably performed an agricultural function, probably to corral livestock, the relatively large assemblage of pottery from the Roman features suggests domestic occupation within several of these enclosures, although no clear evidence was encountered for buildings. This activity predominantly dated to the mid-1st to 3rd centuries AD, with trace evidence for limited activity in the 4th and early 5th centuries AD. Evidence for Early Anglo-Saxon activity was tenuous, consisting of a pit containing a single sherd of 6th-7th-century AD pottery. In the medieval period, a large rectilinear enclosure was established in the southern part of the site, within which were the remains of a post-built building, possibly a farmhouse, and associated activity. Pottery recovered from these features dates the activity to the mid-11th to 13th centuries AD. The enclosure ditch may have survived as an earthwork into the post-medieval period as 16th-18th century artefacts were recovered from its upper fill. Other features included post-medieval field boundaries and a length of anti-tank ditch, part of Bury-St Edmunds' WWII defences.