Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 1882: summary

Archaeological evaluation on land east of Henderson Road, Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex, CO16 0NF: December 2022
by Dr Elliott Hicks (with contributions from Dr Matthew Loughton, Alec Wade and Bronagh Quinn)

Date report completed: December 2022
Location: Land east of Henderson Road, Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex, CO16 0NF
Map reference(s): TM 18688 22546 (centre)
File size: 3708 kb
Project type: Evaluation
Significance of the results:
Keywords: Thorpe Le Soken

Summary. An archaeological evaluation (12 trial-trenches) was carried out on land east of Henderson Road, Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex in advance of the construction of a new residential development.

The site lies adjacent to an area in which previous investigations revealed numerous medieval quarry pits containing artefacts dating from the 11th to the 14th century that indicated occupation in the vicinity during this period, as well as a series of post-medieval ditches and gullies thought to represent the remains of enclosures used for animal husbandry. A Roman ditch, a ditch possibly dating from the 11th to the early 13th century, and a pit, a treethrow and pit/tree-throw dating to the post-medieval or modern periods were uncovered. Sixteen other features were also excavated, but a paucity of artefactual evidence meant they could not be dated.