Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 579: summary

An archaeological evaluation at Carringtons Farm, Carringtons Road, Great Bromley, Essex - December 2010
by Howard Brooks and Ben Holloway

Date report completed: February 2011
Location: Carringtons Farm, Carringtons Road, Great Bromley, Essex
Map reference(s): TM 08198 27425 (c)
File size: 767 kb
Project type: Evaluation
Significance of the results: */**
Keywords: prehistoric, pits, ring-ditch, post-medieval, field system

Summary. Much of the Tendring peninsula is rich in cropmarks, and this part of Great Bromley is no exception. A 6.5ha field north of Carringtons Farm contains the cropmarks of a rectilinear field system and a small subrectangular enclosure. The cropmarks of the rectilinear field system continue on either side of the site, and there are ring-ditches (presumably ploughed-out burial mounds) to the west and east. Prior to mineral extraction and the creation of an agricultural reservoir, a 4% evaluation by 50 trenches found 67 archaeological features. The majority of these (31) were of natural origin. Twenty-one features were field ditches (mostly undated), which share a SW-NE alignment with the present-day field boundaries, and are probably part of the same field system (also undated, but presumed to be post-medieval). The small cropmark enclosure may be of prehistoric date. Together with three prehistoric pits, these demonstrate thinly-spread prehistoric activity here. There were also a few undated ditches on a W-E alignment. These would appear to be part of an earlier landscape which, given the presence of the prehistoric features and ring-ditches among the cropmarks, may be prehistoric in date. The position of the excavated field ditches shows that the cropmark plot is slightly in error. However, a small adjustment would bring it into line with the ditch positions revealed here.