Land East of Highwood Quarry, Easton Park, Little Easton, Essex: An Archaeological Evaluation

In July 2021, an archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd of a block of farmland to the east of Highwood Quarry, Little Easton, Essex. The evaluation, which was commissioned by Waterman Infrastructure and Environment Ltd on behalf of LS Easton Park Development Ltd, was carried out to inform a planning decision on an outline planning application for the development of the site. Geophysical survey had indicated that there was the potential for archaeological remains to be present within parts of the site, primarily on the higher ground overlooking the stream that forms its southern boundary, so trial trenches were positioned to investigate geophysical anomalies and to test apparently 'blank' areas to test the effectiveness of the geophysical technique. The evaluation results broadly confirmed the results of the geophysical survey, encountering sparsely scattered archaeological remains across much of the site, although the most significant remains were located in three distinct areas of activity. These consisted of: Middle to Late Iron Age activity, focused on a rectilinear enclosure in the area of Trenches 6 and 7; Late Bronze Age to Middle Iron Age activity, focused on a small, substantially ditched square enclosure in the area of Trenches 35-38; and Middle Iron Age activity, focused on a rectilinear sequence of enclosures in the area of Trenches 42-47. The remaining features between these areas were mostly undated or were associated with a series of parallel ditches that probably formed part of a post-medieval agricultural drainage system. There was very little datable artefactual material in the fills of the features, assemblages being limited to small amounts of generally abraded prehistoric and Roman pottery, struck flints and post-medieval tile. Environmental samples yielded moderate amounts of charcoal but only a few charred seeds. The evaluation results broadly confirmed the results of the geophysical survey, (Harrison 2020), which had indicated that there was the potential for archaeological remains to be present within parts of the Application Site, primarily on the higher ground overlooking the stream that forms its southern boundary. Most of the geophysical anomalies were located, although in some instances the corresponding feature was on a different alignment (e.g. in Trench 14), suggesting that the anomaly may be detecting a variation in the geological substrate rather than the archaeological feature. Several archaeological features were encountered that were not detected by the survey, most of these being located on the glacial till in the western part of the Application Site (e.g. Trench 6). 9.2 The most significant remains were located in three distinct areas where there was evidence for prehistoric farming activity. These may have been small farmsteads, or more likely, given their small size and the relative paucity of artefactual material, stock enclosures that were occupied on a temporary basis. 9.3 At the western end of the Study Areas the geophysical survey had identified three sides of a possible enclosure that was open to the north-west. The evaluation confirmed the presence of the enclosure (Trenches 6 and 7), which measured approximately 35m long by 27m wide, and there was some evidence for recutting of the enclosure ditch, a least along part of its length. Sherds of Middle Iron Age pottery (48 sherds, 290g) were recovered from the enclosure ditch, and from several linear ditches within its bounds. Some of the pottery was more characteristically Late Iron Age in appearance and was found with sherds of later 1st-century Roman pottery, suggesting that the enclosure was still in use until this time. 9.