Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 1034: summary

Archaeological evaluation on Phase 1 land west of Panfield Lane, Braintree, Essex, CM7 5NR: September 2016
by Laura Pooley (with contributions from Stephen Benfield, Lisa Gray, Adam Wightman, Emma Holloway, Robin Mathieson)

Date report completed: January 2017
Location: Land west of Panfield Lane, Braintree, Essex, CM7 5NR
Map reference(s): TL 7508 2416
File size: kb
Project type: Evaluation
Significance of the results:
Keywords:

Summary. An archaeological evaluation (94 trial-trenches) was carried out on Phase 1 land to the west of Panfield Lane, Braintree, Essex in advance of the construction of new housing estate. The development site is located within an area of known cropmarks with Roman and medieval features and finds identified on the site during archaeological work in 2014. The earliest features identified during the evaluation were two pits of Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age date. A cluster of four ditches and three pits in the centre of the site dated to the early Roman period (early/mid-late 1st century – early/mid 2nd century) and were possibly associated with chalk quarrying and nearby low-status occupation. Thirteen features (five ditches and eight pits) dated to the postmedieval/modern and modern periods. The ditches formed old field boundaries, two of which had previously been plotted as cropmarks. One undated ditch, eight undated pits and twenty natural features/tree-throws were also excavated.