A Slice of Rural Essex Recent Archaeological Discoveries from the A120 between Stansted Airport and Braintree

The following report presents the results of the archaeological fieldwork carried out between 2000 and 2003 along the A120 between Stansted Airport and Braintree in north-west Essex. Essex County Council undertook the preliminary stages of work in 1990 with a comprehensive fieldwalking programme to identify sites of potential interest accompanied by documentary searches and other related works. In 1993 Essex County Council also undertook a large scale rescue excavation at Stebbingford Farm, Felsted, subsequently published (Medlycott 1996). In 2000 Oxford Archaeology undertook the initial field evaluations on 19 targeted sites and subsequently, between 2001–2003, Oxford-Wessex Archaeology completed the evaluation programme with follow-up excavations where deemed necessary and finally undertook a watching brief. The 2001–2003 seasons were undertaken concurrently with the construction of the road. The work was funded by the Highways Agency and at the completion of fieldwork some 47 ‘sites’ had been investigated. Evidence for the presence of human activity was documented from the Mesolithic through to modern times with clear evidence of settlement and manipulation of the landscape from middle Bronze Age times. The earliest evidence for activity came from finds of distinctive flintwork and nearly every site yielded at least one piece of struck flint. Two isolated Mesolithic tools were identified, one from Clobbs Wood/Grange Farm and one from west of Ongar Road. Assemblages of reasonable size were recovered from Strood Hall, west of Ongar Road and west of Stone Hall. These can be dated to the early Neolithic, mid/late Neolithic and late Bronze Age respectively, thus providing a valuable chronological sequence of technological development. At Strood Hall the flintwork was accompanied by sherds of early Neolithic pottery. During the middle Bronze Age we get the first significant appearance of prehistoric farming communities establishing a pattern of settlement that developed across the landscape throughout the Iron Age. The number of sites within each chronological period suggests a peak of activity in the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age, falling sharply to the late Iron Age. However, when the duration of each period is considered there is a relatively consistent density of settlement within the landscape from the middle Bronze Age through to the Roman period. One noticeable focus of activity was the combined watersheds of the River Roding and its tributary to the east, with middle Bronze Age features being recorded at three sites, north of Frogs Hall Stables, Stone Hall and Strood Hall and residual middle Bronze Age pottery being found at another four (Warish Hall; Frogs Hall East; Highwood Farm and South of Great Dunmow). The area to the east of the River Chelmer displayed evidence for far less extensive middle Bronze Age activity. Late Bronze Age/early Iron Age activity represents a continuation of the developments witnessed during the middle Bronze Age. The range of features is similar, comprising again mainly pits and ditches. However, some of the ditches, particularly at Stone Hall, can be seen to form a more recognisable layout of fields and droveways. In addition, there is for the first time an identifiable structure in the form of a four-post structure at Stone Hall, and there is quite widespread evidence of burial practices. The increase in the number of locations containing late Bronze Age/early Iron Age features, from six (in the middle Bronze Age) to thirteen, points clearly to both the intensification of settlement in areas of the clay plateau landscape that were already occupied, and the expansion of settlement into previously unoccupied areas. With the exception of South of Great Dunmow and Clobbs Wood all the sites producing evidence of middle Bronze Age activity witnessed continued activity in the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age. The middle and late Iron Age saw a reduction in the number of sites encountered which seems to reflect a change in the pattern and distribution of settlement, with a greater emphasis on the nucleation and in some cases the enclosure of settlement. These are processes well illustrated by three sites: Highwood Farm, Grange Lane and east of Little Dunmow Road. Seven sites yielded in situ evidence for late Iron Age and Roman-period activity. Strood Hall was the largest. Excavation revealed the nearly complete plan of a mid 1st to mid 4th-century farmstead, complete with round-houses, at least one rectangular building, and a cemetery. Investigation at Rayne Roundabout provided evidence of field systems and enclosures. Another field system was encountered at Parsonage Lane, this time confined to the late 1st to early 2nd century AD, although some resumption of activity is evident from the later 3rd century. Ephemeral traces of Roman-period activity were recorded at Valentine Cottage and Frogs Hall East , both early Roman, and west of Panners Roundabout, which dated to the late Ro