Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 123: summary

A Bronze Age occupation site at Frog Hall Farm, Fingringhoe, Essex: 1975-76 excavations
by Brooks, H (with contributions from Benfield, S; Brown, N; Dickinson, T; Guido, M; Murphy, P; Price, J; Tyler, S; Wymer, J)

Date report completed: 01/01/2001
Location: Fingringhoe, Essex
Map reference(s): TM0276019819, TM0361519829
File size: 1302 kb
Project type:
Significance of the results: *
Keywords: cropmarks, ring-ditch, Bronze Age, radiocarbon, small finds, prehistoric flint, bronze age pottery, Roman pottery, Anglo-Saxon pottery, medieval pottery, personal ornaments, earthworks,

Summary. Excavations in 1975-76 revealed the site of a structure defined by an oval setting of posts, lying slightly off-centre within an irregular ring-ditch which is part of a wider network of undated but probably associated cropmarks. Pottery from the post-holes, ditch and associated pits is of a flint-gritted, Late Bronze Age type. A sample of Vicia faba (horsebean) gave a radiocarbon estimation of 2760 ( 80 bp (uncalibrated), a dating which is broadly in line with the ceramic evidence. Other contemporary finds included spindle-whorls and struck flints. There was a residual Neolithic sherd among the Bronze Age material, and Roman, Saxon and medieval pottery and a Saxon bead in the ploughsoil; whether this is derived from ploughed-out features is unknown.