Archaeological Test Pit Excavations in Little Hallingbury, Essex, 2007-2010 Catherine Collins Carenza Lewis and Catherine Ranson 2 Archaeological Test Pit Excavations in Little Hallingbury, Essex in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 Catherine Collins 2019 Access Cambridge Archaeology Department of Archaeology University of Cambridge Pembroke Street Cambridge CB2 3QG 01223 761519 [email protected] www.access.arch.cam.ac.uk Front cover image: excavation of LHA/07, test pit 7 (© ACA) 3 4 Contents 1 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................ 9 2 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 10 2.1 ACCESS CAMBRIDGE ARCHAEOLOGY (ACA) .................................................................................... 10 2.2 THE HIGHER EDUCATION FIELD ACADEMY (HEFA) ......................................................................... 10 2.3 TEST-PIT EXCAVATION AND RURAL SETTLEMENT STUDIES .............................................................. 11 3 AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND DESIRED OUTCOMES ......................................................................... 12 3.1 AIMS .................................................................................................................................................. 12 3.2 OBJECTIVES ....................................................................................................................................... 12 3.3 OUTCOMES ........................................................................................................................................ 12 4 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................... 13 5 LOCATION .............................................................................................................................................. 14 5.1 THE SETTLEMENT TODAY ................................................................................................................. 14 5.2 GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................ 16 6 ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ............................................................ 17 6.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................... 17 6.2 ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND..................................................................................................... 19 6.2.1 Prehistory .................................................................................................................... 19 6.2.2 Romano-British ........................................................................................................... 20 6.2.3 Anglo-Saxon ................................................................................................................ 21 6.2.4 Medieval ...................................................................................................................... 22 6.2.5 Post-Medieval and later .............................................................................................. 22 6.2.6 Undated ....................................................................................................................... 23 7 RESULTS OF THE TEST PIT EXCAVATIONS IN LITTLE HALLINGBURY ............................... 25 7.1 2007 EXCAVATIONS (LHA/07) .......................................................................................................... 26 7.2 2008 EXCAVATIONS (LHA/08) .......................................................................................................... 42 7.3 2009 EXCAVATIONS (LHA/09) .......................................................................................................... 59 7.4 2010 EXCAVATIONS (LHA/10) .......................................................................................................... 77 8 DISCUSSION .......................................................................................................................................... 88 8.1 PREHISTORIC ..................................................................................................................................... 88 8.2 ROMANO-BRITISH ............................................................................................................................. 90 8.3 ANGLO-SAXON .................................................................................................................................. 90 8.4 MEDIEVAL ......................................................................................................................................... 91 8.5 POST-MEDIEVAL AND LATER ............................................................................................................ 93 9 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................ 94 10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................. 95 11 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................... 96 12 APPENDICES ..................................................................................................................................... 98 12.1 POTTERY REPORTS – PAUL BLINKHORN ............................................................................................ 98 12.1.1 Pottery Types (in Chronological order) ....................................................................... 98 12.1.2 2007 Results ............................................................................................................. 101 12.1.3 2008 Results ............................................................................................................. 105 12.1.4 2009 Results ............................................................................................................. 108 12.1.5 2010 Results ............................................................................................................. 113 12.2 OTHER FINDS – CATHERINE COLLINS .............................................................................................. 116 12.2.1 2007 Finds ................................................................................................................ 116 12.2.2 2008 Finds ................................................................................................................ 121 12.2.3 2009 Finds ................................................................................................................ 128 5 12.2.4 2010 Finds ................................................................................................................ 136 12.3 MAPS ............................................................................................................................................... 141 List of Figures Figure 1: Map of England with a close up insert of East Anglia, and the village of Little Hallingbury highlighted in red. ............................................................................................14 Figure 2: Extent of the parish of Little Hallingbury © Crown Copyright/database right 2019. An Ordnance Survey/EDINA supplied service, 1: 40,000 ...................................................15 Figure 3: 1890’s OS map of Little Hallingbury © Crown Copyright/database right 2019. An Ordnance Survey/EDINA supplied service, 1: 15,000 ........................................................19 Figure 4: Test Pits excavated by year (2007-green, 2008-blue, 2009-yellow and 2010- purple) NB: test pits are not to scale © Crown Copyright/database right 2019. An Ordnance Survey/EDINA supplied service, 1: 10,000 .........................................................................25 Figure 5: The 2007 Little Hallingbury test pit locations (NB: test pits are not to scale) © Crown Copyright/database right 2019. An Ordnance Survey/EDINA supplied service, 1: 10,000 ................................................................................................................................26 Figure 6: Location Map of LHA/07/1 ...................................................................................27 Figure 7: Location Map of LHA/07/2 ...................................................................................28 Figure 8: Location Map of LHA/07/3 ...................................................................................29 Figure 9: Location Map of LHA/07/4 ...................................................................................30 Figure 10: Location Map of LHA/07/5 .................................................................................31 Figure 11: Location Map of LHA/07/6 .................................................................................32 Figure 12: Close up of the post hole (bottom) and beam slot (right) within LHA/07/6 © ACA ...........................................................................................................................................33 Figure 13: Overview of LHA/07/6 and the excavated beam slot (base of picture) and half sectioned post holes ©