Site Event/Activity record ESF21707 - Excavation at Westfield Primary School Replacement site, Chalkstone Way

Small amounts of Neolithic and Bronze Age pottery and flints were recovered, mostly as residual material in later features. Occupation of the site in the later Neolithic / earlier Bronze Age is suggested by a large pit containing Beaker pottery. Two un-urned cremation burials are undated, pending radiocarbon analysis. Intensive occupation of the site began in the middle Iron Age (500-300 BC) and was represented mainly by a probable roundhouse and two substantial ring-ditch features (one of which had a double ditch) that were possibly ritual/funerary monuments. The associated finds assemblage is mostly of a domestic nature and includes a significant amount of pottery. Subsequent phases of activity can be dated less precisely. The double-ring-ditch feature was bisected by a linear boundary ditch, representing a significant change of land use. Only small amounts of non-diagnostic prehistoric pottery were recovered from the ditch. The same ditch was cut by a large, irregular pit (possibly a reservoir) that had a complicated history of infilling and re-excavation. Pottery from all phases of infilling has been dated to the middle Iron Age but is likely to have been residual. Some of the pit fills were rich in charcoal and heated stones, on a scale that suggests some form of industrial process in the immediate vicinity. There was no evidence for Roman or medieval occupation of the site. Post-medieval activity was represented mainly by agricultural ditches. One of these marked the boundary between the parishes of Haverhill and Little Wratting. Project status: Complete Yes, Validated Yes Previous/Future Work: Previous Yes, Future No Associated Identifiers: HER event no. HVH 072 Project Type: Recording project Investigation Type: ''Open-area excavation'' Reason for Investigation: Planning condition Monument Type(s)/Period(s): PIT Early Bronze Age , ROUND HOUSE Iron Age , RING DITCH Iron Age , PIT Iron Age , DITCH Iron Age , DITCH Post Medieval Artefact Type(s)/Period(s): POTTERY Bronze Age , POTTERY Iron Age , WORKED FLINT Late Prehistoric, LOOM WEIGHT Iron Age , SPINDLE WHORL Iron Age PROJECT LOCATION Area 14000.00 Square metres Grid Reference: TL68014593 Point PROJECT CREATOR(S) Brief originator: Local Authority Archaeologist and/or Planning Authority/advisory body Design originator: Jess Tipper Director/Manager: Rhodri Gardner Supervisor: Kieron Heard DIGITAL ARCHIVE Recipient: Suffolk County SMR ID: HVH 072 Contents: 'Ceramics', 'Environmental', 'Glass', 'Human Bones', 'Metal', 'Stratigraphic', 'Survey', 'Worked stone/lithics', 'Animal Bones' Media: 'Database', 'Images raster / digital photography', 'Survey', 'Text' PAPER ARCHIVE Recipient: Suffolk County SMR ID: HVH 072 Contents: 'Stratigraphic' Media: 'Context sheet', 'Matrices', 'Plan', 'Report', 'Section' PHYSICAL ARCHIVE Recipient: Suffolk County SMR ID: HVH 072 Contents: 'Worked stone/lithics', 'Animal Bones', 'Ceramics', 'Environmental', 'Glass', 'Human Bones', 'Metal' BIBLIOGRAPHY Publication Type: Grey literature (unpublished document/manuscript) Title: Archaeological post-excavation assessment and updated project design: Westfield Primary School Replacement site, Chalkstone Way, Haverhill Author(s)/Editor(s): Heard, K Other Bibliographic Details: SCCAS report no. 2011/084 Date: 2012 Issuer/Publisher: Suffolk County Council Place of Issue or Publication: Ipswich Description: A4, 94 pages, wire bound