Land south of Freshwell Gardens, Saffron Walden Evaluation Report with Images

In order to characterise the archaeological potential of land south of Freshwell Gardens, Saffron Walden, Essex, the Heritage Network was commissioned by the developers to undertake an archaeological field evaluation in advance of a planning application, to satisfy the requirements of the local planning authority. Two archaeological trenches were excavated across the footprints of the proposed new buildings, revealing a waterlain organic layer above the natural in both trenches, which may represent the remains of a marshy area on the edge of the town. Pottery of early medieval date was recovered from this deposit. Evidence of alluvial build up was also noted to the west of the ditch in Trench 1. A substantial ditch, interpreted as the 13th century town ditch, was encountered at the western end of Trench 1, though slightly more to the west than had been projected from other sources. Stratigraphically the ditch cut both the alluvial layers and the organic layer. The ditch itself showed evidence of silting up before being fully infilled with material in the post-medieval period and then sealed by a compact chalk consolidation layer. No evidence for additional defences was encountered during the course of the present project. A smaller linear feature was revealed in Trench 2 which also cut through the dark layer. This linear, which could not be fully investigated, was also orientated north-south, parallel to the medieval ditch.