Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 1334: summary

Archaeological excavation on land at the former Elmstead Delivery Office, Clacton Road, Elmstead Market, Essex, CO7 7AB: September 2018
by Laura Pooley (with contributions from Howard Brooks, Adam Wightman )

Date report completed: October 2018
Location: The former Elmstead Delivery Office, Clacton Road, Elmstead Market, Essex, CO7 7AB
Map reference(s): TM 06280 24473
File size: kb
Project type: Excavation
Significance of the results:
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Summary. An archaeological excavation was carried out on land at the former Elmstead Delivery Office, Clacton Road, Elmstead Market in advance of the construction of a residential development of two dwellings. The development site is located in the historic core of the town of Elmstead Market and the former delivery office was a Grade II listed building (before it was demolished after fire-damage). The site also lies directly south of a Roman road with a number of cropmarks recorded by aerial photography nearby.

As recorded in the June 2018 evaluation (CAT Report 1285), the excavation revealed a number of features and building remains associated with the delivery office dating from the 17th to the late 20th centuries. These remains included the rear wall of the former delivery office and two outbuildings, one of which was possibly a scullery dated to the late 18th to early 19th century with the other of early 20th-century date. A small number of pits/postholes of post-medieval and modern date were also excavated.

No evidence of any features or finds pre-dating the 17th century was recorded during the excavation, aside from a single sherd of residual medieval pottery.