Oxford Wessex Archaeology Monograph – serie

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 Roman period. Ditches dating to the late Iron Age/early Roman period were recorded at Warish Hall. Artefactual scatters incorporating late Iron Age or Roman pottery were collected at Greenfields, Blatches and Clobbs Cottage/Grange Farm. Evidence for Saxon activity remained elusive with one notable exception, a single timber building dating to the beginning of the 8th century at Takeley. If the generally accepted understanding of the Saxon period in north-west Essex is one of the slow expansion and coalescence of initially sparse and dispersed settlement, then the period from the 11th to the 14th century is one of development on an increasingly rapid scale, followed by a relatively abrupt collapse. The archaeology uncovered appears to reflect this, with a single short-lived farmstead at Blatches and two other small examples of sites reflecting an equally transient industrial focus: a pottery production site to the west of River Roding and a windmill at Clobbs Wood. Overall the excavations yielded a very modest artefactual assemblage within which pottery was the most prolific find, providing a good sequence from the middle Bronze Age through to the later Roman period. Several of the Roman burials from the cemetery at Strood Hall produced grave goods. No artefactual material was recovered dating to the Anglo-Saxon period. Small assemblages, again mainly ceramic, represent the medieval period from settlement sites at Blatches, Stebbingford Farm and the kilns west of the River Roding. Cremated human bone was recovered from eight sites with examples dating to the late Bronze Age, late Iron Age, Romano-British and non-specific prehistoric. The majority derived from the late Iron Age/early Romano-British or early Romano-British period from the cemetery at Strood Hall. Deposit types include the remains of urned and unurned burials, most of the latter including deposits of pyre debris recovered as one with the remains of the burial. Other contexts represent the remains of discrete deposits of pyre debris within grave fills, fragments of bone apparently incidentally included in the fill of vessels forming grave goods or within the general grave fill, and one possible memorial/cenotaph deposit. The remains of a single inhumation burial were recovered from Strood Hall, situated within the confines of the cremation cemetery. The quality of the environmental remains was variable with some sites producing very well-preserved samples of charred plant remains and charcoals and others poorly preserved material. The collective animal bone assemblage was generally poor with poor preservation and a high fragmentation rate. The evidence from the A120 sites supports the suggestion that animal husbandry was more important than arable cultivation up until the late Iron Age. Charred plant remains were recovered in low concentrations from Stone Hall, west of Ongar and Greenfields. All three sites produced emmer/spelt wheat grains and chaff, hulled barley and a few hazelnut shell fragments. Charcoal analysis of samples from domestic contexts and cremation burials from Greenfields, Stone Hall and Grange Lane indicated that mixed oak/ash deciduous woodland was available as a resource throughout the late Bronze Age and Romano-British periods. The molluscs indicate that the area around the Iron Age farmstead at Highwood Farm had been cleared for some time. The assemblages from all the A120 sites examined indicate an Iron Age and Romano-British lowland pasture, with little intensive use of the local landscapes. The early Roman evidence primarily from Strood Hall and Rayne Roundabout shows an expansion of production from increases in the quantities of bone and charred cereal remains. The first evidence for large scale spelt processing was recovered from both sites, with several deposits of concentrated spelt processing waste being recorded. Blatches was the only medieval site to produce useful quantities of environmental evidence. This produced a typical medieval assemblage of mixed cereals, legumes (horse bean, pea and possibly cultivated vetch) and all the main species of domesticated animals.

This volume presents specialist reports and illustrations, on the Late Iron Age and Roman artefacts recovered during archaeological investigations in the Ebbsfleet valley, near Gravesend, Kent. It is part of a four volume publication on investigations at Springhead and Northfleet, undertaken in connection with engineering works for Section 2 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), now High Speed 1 (HS1). The archaeological discoveries made during HS1 Section 2, which range in date from the Late Iron Age to the medieval period, are reported in Volume 1. Specialist reports on the Iron Age and Roman human bone, faunal and environmental remains are reported in Volume 3, while those on the Saxon and medieval artefacts, human bone, and faunal and environmental remains are reported in Volume 4; additional data is available via the website (http://owarch.co.uk/hs1/springhead-northfleet/). These reports have been prepared by the Oxford Wessex Archaeology Joint Venture in conjunction with Rail Link Engineering for Union Railways (North) Limited (URN). High Speed 1 is the new high-speed railway linking London mainline stations to the Channel Tunnel. Section 1 of HS1, running from the tunnel portal at Folkestone, passes through Kent to Pepper Hill near Gravesend, whilst Section 2 continues the line under the Thames at Swanscombe, and then runs through Essex and East London to London St Pancras. The massive engineering and construction project necessitated one of the largest programmes of archaeological works ever undertaken in Britain. Desk-based assessment was followed by extensive evaluation, comprising field-walking, trial trenching, test-pitting, and borehole investigation. This allowed HS1’s impact on the finite archaeological resources along the route to be assessed and mitigated. Where archaeological sites could not be bypassed, or preserved in situ, excavations were undertaken in advance of construction. The principal archaeological work for Section 1 took place in 1998–2001, while that for Section 2, commissioned by URN, took place between September 2000 and March 2003. Construction work relating to Section 2 in the Ebbsfleet valley included HS1 itself, Ebbsfleet International Station and associated access roads, and a connecting line to the existing North Kent Line. Oxford Archaeology undertook detailed excavation and a watching brief on land south of Northfleet, centred on NGR 516413 174196, towards the north end of the valley, while Wessex Archaeology undertook detailed excavation, strip, map and sample excavation, evaluation and a watching brief on various sites around the south end of the valley, at Springhead, centred on NGR 618000 727500. Following completion of the HS1 programme of work in 2003, there have been further, sometimes extensive, investigations within and adjacent to the Ebbsfleet valley, in advance of infrastructure works and housing and commercial developments. Although these have revealed Palaeolithic and other early prehistoric remains, as well as further discoveries of Late Iron Age, Roman, and Saxon date, it is not anticipated that any major revisions will be required to what is presented in this publication. The four volumes of this publication comprise one of two separate archaeological studies reporting on the HS1 Section 2 excavations in the Ebbsfleet valley. The other publication, Prehistoric Ebbsfleet, focuses on Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, and earlier Iron Age activity. The present publication, Springhead and Northfleet, concentrates on Roman and later activity, but also takes into account the late prehistoric origins of the Roman occupation of the area. The overlap with the Prehistoric Ebbsfleet study, however, is slight as the most important later prehistoric remains – the Late Iron Age ritual or ceremonial activity near the Ebbsfleet spring at Springhead – are outside the period covered by the Prehistoric Ebbsfleet study. The Springhead and Northfleet publication reports on three major excavations, as well as on minor excavations, evaluations, and other investigations, both HS1 and non-HS1. The principal discoveries comprise late prehistoric, Roman, and Saxon features at Springhead, including a sanctuary complex within the Roman town of Vagniacis, and two Middle Saxon cemeteries to its east (site code: ARC SPH00); the Roman Roadside Settlement at Springhead Nursery (site codes: ARC SHN02 and WA 51724); and late prehistoric, Roman, and Saxon features at Northfleet, where a Middle Saxon watermill was discovered immediately adjacent to the Northfleet Roman villa (site code: ARC EBB01). Investigations were also undertaken on the site of a Roman high status walled cemetery south-east of Springhead, first investigated between 1799 and 1802 (site codes ARC WCY02 and WA 52379). This publication also consider the results of earlier (as well as ongoing) investigations and excavations undertaken by a variety of groups at both Springhead and Northfleet Roman villa. The detailed specialist reports in this volume of the Springhead and Northfleet publication cover all the Late Iron Age and Roman artefacts recovered during the reported excavations. These include the analysis of approximately 2158 kg of pottery, dated from the pre-Conquest, earlier 1st century AD until possibly the early 5th century, although most of it is of mid-1st to early/mid-3rd century AD date. In addition, 1756 coins and tokens were recovered, and over 2600 other metal small finds, as well as some 3000 nails. Many of the metal finds comprise items of personal adornment and dress, and various fittings, but others include household utensils and furniture, objects for weighing and measuring, pieces of toilet or medical equipment, tools associated with manufacture and agriculture, military equipment, and votive and religious pieces. Slag was recovered from a probable smithy in the Roadside Settlement, and from another to the east, pre-dating the Sanctuary complex; while virtually all of it derives from forging/smithing, a small component indicates iron smelting. The ceramic building material was associated with a range of structures, including those in the Sanctuary complex, and the temple within the Roadside Settlement, as well as with crop drying or malting kilns, ovens, and hearths. Almost 400 pieces of wall plaster were recorded, mostly from the Roadside Settlement, including a small area of in situ plaster, recorded but not lifted, in one of the rooms of the temple structure. The report on Roman woodwork, which comprised elements of riverbank revetments and well/cistern and pit linings, as well as pieces of fine woven basketry, considers raw materials and woodworking technology. The worked stone report examines some 95 rotary querns and eight millstones, and well as grinding stones and whetstones, and small quantities of structural and decorative stone including two tessarae. Other object found include shale armlets and spindlewhorls, two jet beads, and fragments of at least two pipeclay Venus figurines, along with glass, leather shoes, and objects of bone, including pins and needles, bracelet fragments and a comb. For ease of reference, the site and trench location figures from Volume 1 (Figs 1.1–1.3) are repeated here. For all other relevant archaeological plans, sections and photos, the reader should refer to Volume 1.Complete record

This volume presents specialist reports, and illustrations and tables, on the late Iron Age and Roman human bone, and faunal and environmental remains recovered during archaeological investigations in the Ebbsfleet valley, near Gravesend, Kent. It is the third part of a four volume publication on investigations at Springhead and Northfleet, undertaken in connection with engineering works for Section 2 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), now High Speed 1 (HS1). The archaeological discoveries made during HS1 Section 2, which range in date from the late Iron Age to the medieval period, are reported in Volume 1. Specialist reports on the Iron Age and Roman artefacts are reported in Volume 2, while those on the Saxon and medieval artefacts, human bone, and faunal and environmental remains are reported in Volume 4; additional data is available via the website (http://owarch.co.uk/hs1/springhead-northfleet/). These reports have been prepared by the Oxford Wessex Archaeology Joint Venture in conjunction with Rail Link Engineering for Union Railways (North) Limited (URN). High Speed 1 is the new high-speed railway linking London mainline stations to the Channel Tunnel. Section 1 of HS1, running from the tunnel portal at Folkestone, passes through Kent to Pepper Hill near Gravesend, whilst Section 2 continues the line under the Thames at Swanscombe, and then runs through Essex and East London to London St Pancras. The massive engineering and construction project necessitated one of the largest programmes of archaeological works ever undertaken in Britain. Desk-based assessment was followed by extensive evaluation, comprising field walking, trial trenching, test pitting and borehole investigation. This allowed HS1’s impact on the finite archaeological resources along the route to be assessed and mitigated. Where archaeological sites could not be bypassed, or preserved in situ, excavations were undertaken in advance of construction. The principal archaeological work for Section 1 took place in 1998–2001, while that for Section 2, commissioned by URN, took place between September 2000 and March 2003. Construction work relating to Section 2 in the Ebbsfleet valley included HS1 itself, Ebbsfleet International Station and associated access roads, and a connecting line to the existing North Kent Line. Oxford Archaeology undertook detailed excavation and a watching brief on land south of Northfleet, centred on NGR 516413 174196, towards the north end of the valley, while Wessex Archaeology undertook detailed excavation, strip, map and sample excavation, evaluation and a watching brief on various sites around the south end of the valley, at Springhead, centred on NGR 618000 727500. Following completion of the HS1 programme of work in 2003, there have been further, sometimes extensive investigations within and adjacent to the Ebbsfleet valley, in advance of infrastructure works and housing and commercial developments. Although these have revealed Palaeolithic and other early prehistoric remains, as well as further discoveries of late Iron Age, Roman, and Saxon date, it is not anticipated that any major revisions will be required to what is presented in this publication. The four volumes of this publication comprise one of two separate archaeological studies reporting on the HS1 Section 2 excavations in the Ebbsfleet valley. The other publication, on ‘Prehistoric Ebbsfleet’, focuses on Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age and earlier Iron Age activity. The present publication, ‘Springhead and Northfleet’, concentrates on Roman and later activity, but also takes into account the late prehistoric origins of the Roman occupation of the area. The overlap with Prehistoric Ebbsfleet study, however, is slight as the most important later prehistoric remains – the late Iron Age ritual or ceremonial activity near the Ebbsfleet spring at Springhead – are outside the period covered by the Prehistoric Ebbsfleet study. The Springhead and Northfleet publication reports on three major excavations, as well as on minor excavations, evaluations and other investigations, both HS1 and non-HS1. The principal discoveries comprise late prehistoric, Roman, and Saxon features at Springhead, including a sanctuary complex within the Roman town of Vagniacis, and two mid-Saxon cemeteries to its east (site code: ARC SPH00); the Roman roadside settlement at Springhead Nursery (site codes: ARC SHN02 and WA 51724); and late prehistoric, Roman, and Saxon features at Northfleet, where a middle Saxon watermill was discovered immediately adjacent to the Northfleet Roman villa (site code: ARC EBB01). Investigations were also undertaken on the site of a Roman high status walled cemetery south-east of Springhead, first investigated between 1799 and 1802 (site codes ARC WCY02 and WA 52379). This publication also consider the results of excavations at two HS1 Section 1 sites, the Pepper Hill Roman cemetery which is associated with Vagniacis, and the rural settlement at West of Northumberland Bottom, to the east of Springhead. Finally, the results of earlier (as well as on-going) non-HS1 investigations and excavations undertaken by a variety of groups at both Springhead and Northfleet Roman villa, including work on the South Thameside Development Route 4, are considered. The detailed specialist reports in this volume of the Springhead and Northfleet publication cover the late Iron Age and Roman human bone and animal bone assemblages recovered during the reported excavations, as well as environmental remains and dating evidence relating to contemporary landscape, and subsistence and economy. The report on the human remains analyses the assemblage from Springhead, which comprises a single cremation burial and a minimum of 48 inhumation burials, and a single inhumation burial of a neonate from within the Northfleet villa complex. At Springhead, four of the inhumations were in a small cemetery on the south-western margin of the roadside settlement, the rest comprising small groups and singletons scattered across both the roadside and the settlement sanctuary site; in two cases dual burials were made within one grave. In addition, two contexts contained whole or partial skulls which appear to have been deliberately placed, while other bones had been redeposited in a variety of features, including a ‘ritual shaft’, or within spreads and layers across the areas of occupation. Over 68,000 fragments of animal bone were recovered, from Springhead (c 82%) and Northfleet (c 18%), including many complete animal skeletons. At Springhead, from the late Iron Age at the sanctuary site, and in the Roman roadside settlement, the assemblages are dominated by sheep/goat, followed by pig and cattle, while that assemblage from the Northfleet Roman villa at is dominated by cattle, followed by sheep/goat and pig. In addition, 286 fish bones were recovered, from both marine and freshwater species. The environmental evidence for Roman subsistence and economy is presented in reports on charred plant remains, wood charcoal and marine shell. Environmental sequences and remains relating the development of the Roman landscape were recovered, from both the upper Ebbsfleet valley at Springhead and the lower valley at Northfleet, from a range of locations, including waterlogged alluvial and peat sequences associated with the river edge, as well as calcareous colluvial deposits and soils upslope. This range of evidence is presented in reports on sediments and soils, pollen, diatoms, molluscs, waterlogged plant remains and insects, with dating evidence presented in reports on radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology. Radiocarbon determinations were calibrated using OxCal ver 3.10 (Bronk Ramsey 1995; 2001) utilising the atmospheric data presented by Stuiver et al (1998) and expressed at the 94.5% confidence level (2 sigma level with the end points rounded outwards to 10 years) following the form recommended by Mook (1986).

The construction of High Speed 1 (HS1; formerly the Channel Tunnel Rail Link) entailed a major programme of archaeological investigations across Kent, Essex and Greater London. This volume, the last in a series of reports, presents the archaeological results from investigations in the Ebbsfleet Valley undertaken between 1997 and 2003 on HS1. It also incorporates the results from the associated South Thameside Development Route 4 (STDR 4) road link improvements in the Lower Ebbsfleet Valley carried out for Kent County Council in 2000 and 2001, and investigations on the Ebbsfleet Development (Northfleet Rise) site carried out in 1997.The results of the 2004 Oxford Archaeology early Palaeolithic ‘Ebbsfleet elephant’ excavation, carried out late in the HS1 construction programme, are reported separately (Wenban-Smith 2013).This volume concerns the HS1 study theme defined as ‘Prehistoric Ebbsfleet’. It focuses on landscape development and human occupation from the Palaeolithic through to the Early Iron Age, a span of around 300,000 years. This period incorporates fluctuating extremes of climate between harsh sub-arctic conditions when southern Britain would have been a frozen and uninhabitable treeless waste, and warmer interludes when luxuriant forest was interspersed with grassy plains, rich in what we would now regard as tropical fauna, such as lion, hippopotamus and hyaena.The Ebbsfleet Valley and its immediate area are rich in prehistoric remains, and the area has seen numerous investigations carried out from the 19th century onwards. Despite the lack of ‘modern’ excavation and recording methods, these sites have produced some nationally important sites including Baker’s Hole − Britain’s foremost Palaeolithic site with Levalloisian flint artefacts − rare evidence for ‘Long Blade’ occupation of Final Palaeolithic date, and the type-site for Neolithic Ebbsfleet Ware pottery.The approach taken in this volume is to develop a framework for the changing landscape and environment of the Ebbsfleet Valley through this period, and to present the evidence of human occupation against this background. Although direct human evidence is largely lacking from the present investigations, the prolific results of earlier work have been integrated with the environmental and dating framework established as a result of the HS1 and STDR 4 works.The results are initially presented by Zone within the Ebbsfleet Valley, with detailed specialist reports and development of zonal environmental and dating frameworks. The zonal results are then combined into an overall synthesis and discussion. A reappraisal of the important Palaeolithic flint artefact collections from Baker’s Hole and the Ebbsfleet Channel is also presented.