Cocks Farm villa, Abinger

Further excavation by the Roman Studies Group of SyAS, directed by E Corke and D Bird to the north-east of the Scheduled Roman villa, recorded considerable quantities of unstratified Mesolithic and Neolithic struck flint from across the site. A possible Bronze Age barrow ditch and two adjacent pits, again of probable Bronze Age date and thought to represent inhumations where no bone has survived, were also revealed. Iron Age features in the form of a curvilinear enclosure ditch and a number of pits were recorded. A substantial storage pit contained an inverted horse’s skull in its upper fill while a number of nearby shallow pits produced finds of probable transitional Late Iron Age/Romano-British date. An east–west ditch was cut by a probable Iron Age storage pit. Further small ditches or gullies previously recorded in 2016 (SyAC 101, 215) and interpreted as Roman period vineyard bedding trenches were revealed, two of which contained a large quantity of ironstone. A series of evenly spaced postholes and a number of interspaced, apparently placed, objects were recorded within the trenches and are thought to represent holes for the posts that supported the vines and placed deposits at the planting locations. Evidence for three post-built structures of Roman date was revealed. All were aligned approximately east–west with the largest, to the east, interpreted as an aisled building of some size. To its west, a smaller building had evidence of east–west eaves-drip gullies to its south and north and is believed to be of an earlier date, or possibly contemporary with the larger structure. Partially overlying both structures was evidence of the south wall of a third structure with an associated eaves-drip gully to its south. This may have been an open-sided structure as there was no evidence of other postholes that might have represented further walls. A large north–south oriented ditch that aligned closely with a previously recorded section of Roman field boundary ditch to the north, appeared to pre-date at least some of the vineyard bedding trenches. Three parallel, north–south posthole boundary alignments were also recorded, one post-dating the west building. They continued a series of alignments recorded in 2016 that included palisades and a beamslot and posthole arrangement. he remains of a 5–6m wide, east/west-oriented medieval/post-medieval lynchet overlay much of the southern extent of the excavation, and the east–west Iron Age ditch, and was concurrent with a hedgerow known to have survived until the early 20th century. A series of postholes to its north and on the same east–west orientation are probably contemporary with the lynchet. (468)
Year: 
2017
ID: 
2837
NGR: 
TQ106474
Borough: