The excavation encompassed an area of 1.05ha, targeting features identified in Trenches 10-14 and 20-23 of the evaluation. In the early Roman period, from around AD 70, a Roman farmstead was established on the site. Several of the finds recovered from the farmstead have Roman military associations, so it may have been established by a former soldier and his family. The settlement consisted of four successive phases of rectilinear enclosure in the southern part of the site, with the north-westwards continuation of one ditch indicating that the area to the north of the enclosures may also have been enclosed, probably to corral livestock. Inside the latest enclosure were the remains of three ovens and a post-built timber structure, possibly a building where wood for the ovens was stored and food prepared. Many of the ditches that formed the southern enclosures contained assemblages of domestic rubbish, including pottery, fired clay/daub, animal bone and shell. A regionally significant assemblage of early Roman pottery was recovered from one of the enclosure ditches. An isolated urned Roman cremation located in the south-western corner of the site probably dates to the earliest occupation of the farmstead. The farmstead was short-lived and had been abandoned by c. AD 120. In the late 11th century/early 12th century, a rectilinear enclosure was established in the south-western corner of the site, within which were two post-built timber buildings, probably a barn and a store/shed. Probably in the early-mid 12th century, these were replaced by a ditch system that separated and controlled access between agricultural land to the east of the boundary from the Elmsett to Hadleigh road to the west. Later in the 12th century, this ditch system was modified but largely appears to have performed the same function, although a wide verge between the edge of the field and the road appears to have then been partitioned and used for a variety of activities, including clay extraction and the construction of an oven or small furnace. A large pond in the eastern part of the site probably dates from the medieval period and is likely to have remained in use until at least the 16th century. In the 15th century there was a substantial re-organisation of land-use within the site, with an enclosed yard being established adjacent to the road. The enclosure contained a metalled working area, from the surface of which came an assemblage of 15th to 16th-century pottery, a 15th-century silver finger ring incised with the inscription 'IESVS', two horseshoes, small fragments of iron sheet and numerous iron nails.
Lucking et al. (Mon,) studied this question.